Political Roundup: The Comey Memo and What Trump Shared With the Russians

It's time again for our weekly political round up and analysis of national, state and local political stories. On this edition of Houston Matters, we discuss the latest on reports that fired FBI Director James Comey wrote a memo recounting President Trump asking him to shut down the Bureau’s investigation into the President’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well as allegations that Trump shared “highly classified” information with Russian officials last week, a day after dismissing Comey, amid the FBI’s ongoing investigation of Trump campaign officials’ engagement with Russia, and Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election.

We also discuss Senator John Cornyn of Texas removing his name from consideration to be the next FBI Director, and a number of developments in state politics, as the Texas Legislature enters its final two weeks.

Joining us to offer their analysis this week are three guests: Brandon Rottinghaus, professor of political science at the University of Houston and co-host of Houston Public Media's new podcast Party Politics, Mark Jones, political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, and Elizabeth Simas, assistant professor of political science at the University of Houston.