A partially transcribed, unclassified memo written by ousted Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey alleges that President Donald Trump asked Comey, then formally investigating former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s communication with Russian officials, to close his probe, the New York Times reports.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Trump told Comey, according to the Times‘ partial transcript of the memo. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
The Times also reports that Comey wrote the memo immediately after a February meeting in the Oval Office with the president, which took place the day after Flynn resigned, and shared it with senior officials at the FBI.
In a statement sent to the Times, the White House flatly denied the version of events described in Comey’s memo. “The president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” the statement reads.
