FBI 'protecting' James Comey memos as part of 'prospective law enforcement proceeding'

While former FBI Director James Comey's memos have already been handed to special prosecutor Robert Mueller, they won't make it to the press pages.

According to a BuzzFeed report, the FBI said that the memos are now part of a "pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding."

Both BuzzFeed and CNN requested the memos under the Freedom of Information Act and The New York Times and CNN have filed a lawsuit for the memos, the FBI said releasing the memos could "reasonably interfere with enforcement proceedings."

The statement implies that there is a possible internal investigation about conversations between President Donald Trump and Comey, but it wasn't clarified.

"It would be fascinating, of course, to see the Comey memos," said Project on Government Secrecy Director Steven Afterwood. "But I think this is exactly the sort of circumstance that this FOIA exemption was designed for. That is, to protect records that are at the center of an unfolding investigation where disclosure of the records could compromise leads or prejudice the investigation. That also means, however, that once the investigation is concluded or the special counsel has moved on, the justification for withholding would evaporate and the memos should be released."

Comey testified that he knew there might be a day when he needed a record to defend himself and the FBI. For that reason, he wrote down a report of what was said and done with Trump.

Read the full response from BuzzFeed is here.