Comey Invited to Testify at House on Trump Interference

Shortly after the Intelligence Committee requested the memos, the Senate Judiciary Committee did the same, sending its own letters to both McCabe and White House Counsel Donald McGahn. On top of the memos detailing Comey's conversations with Trump, the Judiciary Committee is also interested in those concerning discussions with former President Barack Obama about the Clinton email investigation.

The letter to McGahn specifically asks the White House to turn over "recordings, transcripts, notes, summaries and memoranda," that touch on either of the two investigations. Trump raised the possibility that a recording of his conversation with Comey exists when he made a threatening reference to "tapes" of the discussion on Twitter.

The House Oversight Committee kicked off the run of requests last night by sending a letter to McCabe asking for Comey's memos. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who leads the committee, said he has taken the steps to set up a hearing with Comey next Wednesday, but that he "still needs to speak" with him about testifying.

None of the committees have subpoenaed the records, and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Richard Burr told reporters Wednesday he did not expect to have to for Comey to appear.  Chaffetz said on Twitter on Tuesday that he has his "subpoena pen ready," Warner noted issuing a subpoena is a move of last resort.

"You start the process with a request, you don't use the other tools until you need to," Warner told reporters.

The requests, which could not happen without the support of the Republicans who lead the committees that issued them, show the increasing pressure on Trump that is starting to come even from within his own party on Capitol Hill. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich.,  made waves on Wednesday when he told The Hill that Trump could face impeachment if the details in the memos were born out.

But the most pressure on Trump is still coming from the left, with Democrats in the House on Wednesday renewing efforts to force a vote to establish an independent commission that would look into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The measure, called a discharge petition, was first introduced by Reps. Eric Swalwell and Elijah Cummings and would force a vote if 218 members sign on to it. So far only Amash and North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones have crossed the aisle to sign the petition.

The petition would be a slow-moving solution, as the procedural rules that govern it would mean it could not be brought up until July at the earliest. But Cummings said the move is important regardless of how long it takes to accomplish.

"If it takes a year, if it takes two years, if it takes three years, we need to get this right," Cummings said at a press conference on Wednesday. "we need to get this right, we need to get it right, right now. In other words my point is that, yeah, it may take a little time, but this is not about us. This is bigger than us. This is bigger than President Trump. This is about the soul of our democracy."

Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., noted at the press conference that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan could speed up the process of establishing an independent commission, but such a move seems unlikely, as earlier in the day Ryan recommitted to his position that the ongoing congressional investigations into Trump's Russia connections are sufficient without an independent prosecutor or commission.

"We need the facts," Ryan said at a press conference Wednesday morning. "It is obvious there are some people out there who want to harm the president. But we have an obligation to carry out our oversight regardless of which party is in the White House and that means before rushing to judgment we get all the pertinent information."

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