Justice Department gives Congress, and Congress promptly leaks, Comey's Trump memos

On Thursday, the Justice Department sent Congress redacted, unclassified memos written by former FBI Director James Comey detailing private conversations he had with President Trump. The Republican chairmen of the House Judiciary, Intelligence, and Oversight and Government Reform committees had requested and threatened to issue a subpoena for the memos.

The Associated Press almost immediately obtained copies of the memos, which don't reveal much that hasn't already been told by Comey in either his congressional testimony last year or his new book, A Higher Loyalty. In a letter to the chairmen, Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd said that the Justice Department has concluded that releasing the memos will not "adversely impact any ongoing investigation or other confidentiality interests of the executive branch."

In one memo, Comey said Trump confided he had major concerns about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's judgment, and a few days later, then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked if Flynn's communications were being monitored under a secret surveillance warrant. In another, Comey wrote that Trump said he was told by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country has "some of the most beautiful hookers in the world."

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Late Thursday, the three chairmen released a joint statement that criticizes Comey and claims his memos show that Trump "wanted allegations of collusion, coordination, and conspiracy between his campaign and Russia fully investigated."