James Comey challenges Republican congressional subpoena

last updated 30 November 2018

Former FBI Director James Comey is challenging a subpoena he received last week from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee who want him to privately testify about the FBI probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state and the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

On Thursday, Comey's attorneys filed a challenge to the subpoena in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying Comey "asks this court's intervention not to avoid giving testimony but to prevent the [panel] from using the pretext of a closed interview to peddle a distorted, partisan political narrative about the Clinton and Russian investigations through selective leaks."

The FBI and Justice Department are "appropriately subject to congressional oversight," the lawyers wrote, but Comey should "not be coerced into participating in an improper and partisan effort to undermine the legitimacy of an institution that he served for the better part of four years." There is "no legitimate reason" for this testimony to be private, the attorneys argued, and the subpoena violates House rules and "harasses the witness." Last week, Comey tweeted he is "happy to sit in the light and answer all questions."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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