Rep. Trey Gowdy: 'I want to see the memo, I want to talk to Director Comey'

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Rep. Gowdy: We need to see the entire reported Comey memo

On 'The Story,' congressman reacts to the NYTimes report; discusses choice to remove self from FBI director search

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum" Tuesday that he needed to see an alleged memo in which then-FBI Director James Comey claimed President Trump asked him to shut down an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

"I want to see the memo [and] I want to talk to Director Comey to determine how contemporaneous his recording of the conversation was," Gowdy told host Martha MacCallum. "What did Director Comey hear? How did he take it? That can only be done ... that can only be done by looking at the memo and talking to Director Comey."

Late Tuesday, House oversight committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, requested the FBI submit documents related to any communications between Comey and Trump.

Gowdy, a member of the committee, told MacCallum that Comey was not required to report the Feb. 14 conversation with Trump to the Justice Department.

"I don’t think Director Comey reported President Obama the four different times he prejudged the outcome of an investigation," Gowdy told MacCallum. "Director Comey has not been afraid in the past to say no to presidents and attorney generals. ... I think if he felt like this was an effort to influence him, he knows exactly what to do."

Gowdy also discussed why he took his name out of the running to replace Comey as FBI director.

"Quite frankly, I think the country deserves a woman or a man who is devoid of political taint," he said. "Whether I like it or not, whether I wish I could wash it off or not, I have been in politics for six years."