15 Oct.

Kathmandu. Government lawyers have asked a judge to reject CNN’s requests to make public the memos of former FBI Director James Comey in which he details his meetings with President Donald Trump.
In a late Friday evening filing, the lawyers also have asked for permission to argue in secret why they say the disclosure could compromise the investigation into Russian election-meddling and potential obstruction of justice into that probe.

Several news outlets and government watchdogs, including CNN, have requested the documents be released under the Freedom of Information Act. Comey testified in Congress that the documents detail Trump’s request that he pledge personal loyalty and what he interpreted as a request to curtail an investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Despite Comey’s testimony that he wrote the memos specifically to avoid including classified information, the government argued it has now classified portions of the documents.

Releasing the memos, the government said, could “reveal the scope and focus of the investigation and thereby harm the investigation” and any prosecutions.

To prevent that harm, the government requested District Judge James E. Boasberg, who sits in Washington, DC, allow them to secretly make their case, citing an unnamed “FBI employee” who would testify only behind closed doors about why the Comey memos could not be disclosed. CNN