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WASHINGTON – The Special Council Office has sought to keep secret memos written by the former F.B.I. Director James B. Comey, in an attempt to prevent people under investigation – like President Trump – from adapting their stories to align with Mr. Comey's accounts, according to a transcript of the trial made public Tuesday.
The lawyers for the special advocate, Robert S. Mueller III, pleaded their case in an in camera hearing held in January 2018 before a federal judge, who was overseeing a lawsuit to obtain notes. Mr. Comey had written about his interactions with the President. Public. News outlets sued the Ministry of Justice for access to the memos, but the case became moot when the Congress released them three months later. The judge ordered that the transcript of the hearing be made public Tuesday.
The transcript provides an overview of the status of the special advocate's investigation eight months after Mr. Mueller began to examine whether Mr. Trump had obstructed justice, among other issues. At the hearing, Michael Dreeben, one of Mr. Mueller's best lawyers, attempted to illustrate the seriousness of the investigation, the issues surrounding the president's conduct and the potential benefits to witnesses who had read Mr. Comey's memos.
"A person who seeks to shape or shape his own statements with those of others thus gains an advantage by doing so that it would not otherwise," said Mr. Dreeben, according to the transcription.
Mr. Dreeben acknowledged before the judge, James E. Boasberg, of the Federal District Court of Columbia, that Mr. Trump was under investigation for obstruction of justice and that the F.B.I. had opened this investigation prior to Mr. Mueller's appointment in May 2017.
"This investigation covered topics covered in the Comey Memoranda, which explored and recorded Mr. Comey's memories of meetings, including one-on-one meetings with the President of the United States," said Mr. Dreeben, referring to at the FBI initial. investigation. "During these meetings, events took place that led the F.B.I. conclude that an investigation was under his proper authority to consider issues such as obstruction of justice. "
Mr. Dreeben added, "In this case, a person whose conduct falls within the investigation is the President of the United States."
The details of the transcript were reported for the first time on Tuesday by CNN.
Many details of Mr Comey's memos had already been made public at the time of the hearing. The New York Times reported in May 2017 that Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Comey for his loyalty and that the investigation into his former National Security Advisor, Michael T. Flynn, was terminated. The day after The Times report on the Flynn meeting, Mr. Mueller was named.
The following month, Mr. Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his interactions with the President. Mr Dreeben said that although many parts of the memos had already been revealed, it was still important to keep them away from those whose conduct was under surveillance.
"These memoranda are also much more detailed in many cases than those that Mr. Comey revealed either in his statement for the record or in his oral testimony before the Senate," said Mr. Dreeben.
He added that since Mr. Comey's memos were written at the same time, the witnesses would like their accounts to be aligned with them.
During an investigation, evidence such as Mr. Comey's notes "is generally confidential throughout the investigation and any resulting proceedings to ensure that all witnesses provide truthful evidence based on their findings. own memories and not on an adaptation or other witness statements. "
Mr. Mueller's office eventually lost the battle, but not in the courtroom. In April 2018, the Ministry of Justice provided copies to members of Congress, who immediately made them public.
One year after the publication of the notes, Mr. Mueller completed his investigation and declined to decide whether the president was obstructing justice. Attorney General William P. Barr has cleared the President. But in his report, Mr. Mueller detailed more than a dozen episodes that, according to legal experts, show how Mr. Trump tried to interfere in the investigation. Among them were several of the meetings detailed by Mr. Comey in his memos.
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