Jason Chaffetz invites James Comey to hearing next week

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) announced that he has invited former FBI Director James Comey to a hearing next Wednesday. "But I still need to speak with him," Chaffetz added. "Evidently has a new [number]."

On Tuesday, Chaffetz wrote a letter to acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe saying that if the reports of a "Comey memo" are true, then "these memoranda raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede the FBI's investigation as it relates to Lt. Gen. [Michael] Flynn. So the committee can consider that question and more, provide ... all memoranda, notes, summaries, and recordings referring or relating to any communications between Comey and the president."

CNN's Eric Lichtblau said before Chaffetz's announcement Wednesday that a Comey hearing "should be one for the history books."

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"Newly exiled FBI director pitted against the president who fired him. Add backdrop of Russian election influence. Cue the grainy Watergate photos of Sam Ervin and Howard Baker," Lichtblau said. "And remember, Comey has always had quite a flair for drama, as we saw exactly 10 years ago when he testified in the Senate about his famous hospital-room showdown with George W. Bush's White House aides at John Ashcroft's bedside. We could get a hearing in the next few weeks, if not sooner, and my guess is that Comey will insist it happen in public, not behind closed doors."