FBI Director Comey meets with senators on matters related to Trump Tower: NBC, citing source

FBI Director James Comey met key lawmakers Thursday to talk about matters related to Trump Tower, a congressional source familiar with the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election told NBC News.

Comey huddled with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C. and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va, according to NBC. He then talked to House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Devin Nunes and Adam Schiff, the top Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the House Intelligence Committee.

It was not immediately clear what specifically he told the lawmakers. Comey was seen leaving the United States Capitol on Thursday afternoon and declined to answer NBC's question about whether there was ever a legal wiretap at Trump Tower.

Trump on Saturday accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his phones "during the very sacred election process." He compared it to President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

Since then, though, Trump aides have not pointed to any specific evidence to back his claim. Comey reportedly asked the Justice Department to publicly reject the assertion, while the chairmen of both the House and Senate intelligence committees have said they have not seen evidence to support it.

Separately Wednesday, two senators asked the Department of Justice and FBI for any warrant applications or court orders they have related to Trump's accusation. The senators, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, which has oversight of the Justice Department's criminal division.

It is not clear what Comey said in his conversations Thursday about Trump's allegations.

The House and Senate are investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community has accused Russia of hacking Democratic computers during the campaign, among other efforts to meddle.

Top Trump campaign, and subsequently administration, officials have faced accusations of improper contacts with Moscow. Trump has called any allegations a politically charged witch hunt.

Key Trump officials have recently played defense over their contacts with Russian officials. Trump's first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned last month after the White House said he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., before Trump took office. Trump has defended Flynn holding those conversations, but said his advisor betrayed Pence's trust.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions then said this month he would step back from any investigations related to the Trump campaign after it was revealed that he talked to Kislyak before the election. Sessions told senators during his January confirmation hearing that he did not have contact with Russian officials. He later clarified that statement, saying he misunderstood the question and that he met with Kislyak in his capacity as a then-senator on the Armed Services Committee.

— NBC News' Kasie Hunt contributed to this report

Correction: Richard Burr is a Republican. An earlier version misstated his party affiliation.