Former FBI Director James Comey will reportedly not say that President Donald Trump interfered in the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
A source close to Comey told ABC News he will not say Trump committed obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense, but he will dispute Trump's claim that Comey told him several times that the president was not under investigation.
The New York Times reported last month on a memo Comey wrote about a private conversation with the president about the Flynn probe. Trump said he hoped "you can let this go." While the discussion made Comey "uncomfortable," ABC reports, he will not say it rose to the level of obstruction.
The president allegedly said he hoped Comey would drop the Flynn investigation, a request that concerned Comey enough that he documented the conversation in a memo shortly after speaking with the president. In the memo, according to sources close to Comey who reviewed it, Trump said: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," during a February meeting.
The request made Comey uncomfortable, but the source tells ABC News that Comey has told associates he will not accuse the president of obstructing justice.
"He is not going to Congress to make accusations about the president's intent, instead he's there to share his concerns," the source said, and tell the committee "what made him uneasy" and why he felt a need to write the memo documenting the conversation.
Trump fired Comey on May 9, and the White House offered a scrambled set of explanations for the reasoning behind the termination. Trump initially said he did it on the recommendation of the Department of Justice, but he later told NBC News that he always planned to dismiss Comey.
In his letter firing Comey, Trump referenced how on "three separate occasions" the former FBI chief told him he was not under investigation. According to the report, Comey will dispute Trump's version of those talks.
Comey's testimony on Thursday marks his first public remarks since his termination.