title:  It’s ON: Comey Refuses To Testify Before Intelligence Committee Unless The Hearing Is Public
text: When former FBI director James Comey refused to testify before Congress in a closed session, it seemed odd to many who have been paying attention to the Donald Trump/Russia scandal. Comey was fired shortly after requesting more funding for the investigation into Trump and his associates  likely collusion with Russia. In Comey s termination letter, Donald Trump thanked him for confirming three times that he was not under investigation   though Comey s colleagues say no such thing happened.According to numerous reports, Comey had begun receiving daily   rather than weekly   reports on the investigation in the time before he was fired. So why was he unwilling to testify? Because he wants this shit to go down in public.One of Comey s associates strategically leaked to the New York Times that Comey would be willing to speak :Mr. Comey made no comment, but later in the day he declined a request to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. According to a close associate of Mr. Comey, he is willing to testify, but wants it to be in public.The matter arose in a series of early-morning Twitter messages in which Mr. Trump appeared agitated over news reports on contradictory accounts of his decision to fire Mr. Comey, which came at the same time the F.B.I. is investigating ties between Mr. Trump s associates and Russia. Among other things, he threatened to cancel future White House briefings.The White House s original version of the story was that the president had acted on the recommendation of the attorney general and deputy attorney general and fired Mr. Comey because of his handling of last year s investigation into Hillary Clinton s emails. But in an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he had already decided to fire Mr. Comey and would have done so regardless of any recommendation. He also indicated that he was thinking about the Russia investigation when he decided.What does Comey know? Trump, who demanded a loyalty pledge multiple times that the ousted director turned down, recently threatened to release  tapes  of their conversations. Trump did not say what was on these alleged tapes, but The Donald s Nixonian outburst reveals that he s incredibly nervous about whatever it is that Comey knows.As for Comey? He hopes there are tapes.A source close to Comey told me this morning:  He hopes there are tapes. That would be perfect.  Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) May 12, 2017Featured image via screengrab