This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Washington • Rep. Jason Chaffetz has postponed a planned hearing Wednesday to question James Comey after the fired FBI director said that before he testifies publicly he wants to speak with the special counsel investigating any potential ties between Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and President Donald Trump's associates.

Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, tweeted Monday evening that the hearing would be pushed back.

The Utah Republican wants Comey — whom Trump fired May 9 amid an ongoing investigation into the White House's possible ties to Moscow's interference in the U.S. presidential election — to answer questions about a memo Comey reportedly wrote saying that Trump had asked him to halt the probe into Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Chaffetz has requested the Justice Department turn over that memo and any other documents detailing Comey's conversations with the president.

Flynn is one of several reported targets of the FBI investigation, which will now be headed by one-time FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said in a statement Monday that documents he has obtained show Flynn misled Pentagon investigators about his income from Russian companies and contacts with Russian officials when he sought to renew his top-secret security clearance.

Cummings, calling on Chaffetz to subpoena the White House for any records on Flynn, added that Flynn said he was paid by U.S. companies, though the source of the money was RT, a Kremlin-run news outlet.

In his tweet, Chaffetz said he spoke Monday with Comey. Chaffetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.