WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the FBI (all times local):
12:15 p.m.
The chairman and senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee have abruptly left a hearing on world threats to meet with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.
Congressional staffers confirm that the two are meeting in a room next to the hearing where top law enforcement and intelligence officials are being questioned about the Russia investigation and Comey’s firing.
It is unclear what the meeting is about. Video posted on Twitter by ABC News shows Rosenstein and other officials, including Dana Boente, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, walking into the room.
11:51 a.m.
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe disagrees with the White House suggestion that it’s a low priority of the FBI to investigate Russian interference in the election and potential Trump campaign collusion.
McCabe says it’s a “highly significant investigation,” contradicting statements made by the White House downplaying the significance. On Wednesday, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was “probably one of the smallest things” that the FBI has “got going on their plate.”
McCabe tells a Senate panel that he would not describe the investigation that way. Still, McCabe is declining to say exactly how many FBI personnel are involved in the investigation. McCabe says he can’t discuss that in a public setting.
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11:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump says ousted FBI Director James Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation, but the acting FBI director is telling Congress that’s not standard practice.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins serves on the Senate intelligence committee. Collins asked acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe if the FBI typically tells people that they are not a target of investigation.
McCabe said he couldn’t comment on what Comey might or might not have told the president, but that it’s not standard practice to inform someone that they are not a target.
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11:35 a.m.
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is contradicting the White House claim that fired director James Comey had lost the support of rank-and-file members of the bureau.
The White House used that assertion to justify Comey’s firing. But McCabe says the claim is not accurate. He says Comey “enjoyed broad support” within the agency and that he holds Comey in the “absolute highest regard.”
He says it was the “greatest privilege” of his career to serve under him.
11:30 a.m.
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe has agreed to refrain from updating the White House about an investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election.
McCabe made the commitment under questioning Thursday at a Senate hearing.
He was made acting director Tuesday evening following the firing of director James Comey. Justice Department leaders are interviewing other contenders for the position.
McCabe earlier would not confirm President Donald Trump’s assertions that Comey had told him multiple times that he was not under investigation.
—This story has been corrected to show Trump asserted Comey told him he was not under investigation, restoring the dropped word “not.”
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11:25 a.m.
Top Democrats want answers from the Justice Department about whether ousted FBI Director James Comey asked his superiors for additional resources to investigate Russia’s interference in last year’s elections.
Sens. Patrick Leahy and Jeanne Shaheen of the powerful Appropriations panel sent Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein a letter asking for details. Rosenstein’s memo on Tuesday harshly criticizing Comey and recommended his dismissal.
Leahy and Shaheen want details about Comey’s request to his higher-ups at Justice on the Russia probe. They also want to know whether the White House or Congress was alerted to the request.
Vermont Democrat Leahy and New Hampshire Democrat Shaheen said that the FBI “should spare no expense in getting to the truth” about Russian interference in the campaign.
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11 a.m.
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe won’t confirm President Donald Trump’s account that fired director James Comey told him he wasn’t under investigation.
McCabe is testifying Thursday at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on national security threats.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Richard Burr, asked McCabe if Comey had ever told Trump that he was not the subject of any investigation. In his letter Tuesday firing Comey, Trump said Comey had told him three times that he was not under investigation.
McCabe told Burr that he could not comment on any conversations between Trump and Comey.
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10:48 a.m.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah says the next FBI director should be Merrick Garland — the federal judge nominated to the Supreme Court last year by President Barack Obama.
Garland never got a hearing due to Republican obstruction, and the high court vacancy was filled last month by Neil Gorsuch.
Lee says over Twitter that Garland could restore trust to the FBI after President Donald Trump fired Director James Comey.
Lee raised the idea directly to White House staff on Wednesday, according to an aide.
The proposal drew a positive reaction from one Democratic senator, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who praised it over Twitter.
There would be an important side benefit for Trump: A vacancy on the critical D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals which Trump could then fill.
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10:30 a.m.
The senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee is accusing the White House of not taking the investigation into Russia and the election seriously.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia says the firing of former FBI Director James Comey will in no way deter the committee from finding out the truth of what happened during the 2016 presidential election.
Warner said the timing of Comey’s dismissal by President Donald Trump is troubling.
He says Comey was scheduled to appear at Thursday’s hearing and that his absence cost the committee an opportunity to get at the truth, at least for a day.
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7:10 a.m.
A spokeswoman for President Donald Trump is suggesting that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who wrote a memo justifying FBI Director James Comey’s firing, be selected to take over the Russia investigation.
Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls Rosenstein a person “who sets the gold standard within the legal system.”
She also says “I am not aware” of reports he threatened to resign over the way the Comey dismissal was attributed in part to the memo he wrote. But Sanders also said the Trump White House isn’t trying to quash the investigation. “Any investigation that was taking place on Monday is still taking place today,” she said.
Democrats who are urging the naming of a special counsel argue this would be the best way to take politics out of the probe. Sanders said she thought Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, was “a perfect example of what you would be looking for in terms of an independent person to come in and helm this investigation.”
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3:05 a.m.
Days before he was fired by Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey requested more resources to pursue his investigation into Russia’s election meddling and the possible involvement of Trump associates, U.S. officials say, fueling concerns that Trump was trying to undermine a probe that could threaten his presidency.
It was unclear whether word of the Comey request, put to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, ever made its way to Trump. But the revelation intensified the pressure on the White House from both political parties to explain the motives behind Comey’s stunning ouster.
Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon to fire a law enforcement official overseeing an investigation with ties to the White House. Democrats quickly accused Trump of using Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as a pretext and called for a special prosecutor into the Russia probe. Republican leaders brushed off the idea as unnecessary.
