Mr. Gowdy. Yes.
Mr. Comey. The public comments, because they were widely broadcast, were ones that were apparent to the senior leadership team of the FBI. If I didn't tell the senior leadership team of the FBI about my conversation with President Trump, they wouldn't otherwise know and couldn't help me figure out what to do with what was potential obstruction of justice.
Mr. Gowdy. All right. Well, let's get into that then.
After he asked you if it was a private conversation and you said it was, what did he ask you about? What was his specific question? Do you recall?
Mr. Comey. The "he" you're talking about is Reince Priebus? We're back on the February 8th --
Mr. Gowdy. Back to the February 8 memo. Right after he said is this a private conversation and you said it was, what was the next issue he broached with you?
Mr. Comey. He said he wanted -- I'm reading from the top of my own memo, second page. He said he wanted to ask me a question and I could decide whether it was appropriate to answer. He then asked, do you have a FISA order on Mike Flynn?
Mr. Gowdy. All right. And did you answer it, or did you tell him it was inappropriate for him to ask?
Mr. Comey. In a way, both. I paused and said that I would answer here but this illustrated the kind of question that had to be asked and answered through established channels. And then I
