House panel chairman says FBI declines to meet request for Comey-linked documents

WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has declined to give the House Oversight Committee documents it had requested regarding communications between former FBI chief James Comey and President Donald Trump, the head of the panel said on Thursday.

The FBI said it was still evaluating the request, which had a committee-set deadline of Wednesday, in light of the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the possibility of collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and Russian officials seeking to influence the election, according to a letter released by Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz.

In a responding letter, Chaffetz said he still wanted any related documents that would be outside of the scope of the special counsel's investigation, and a list of documents found to be within the scope of the probe, by June 8.