Former FBI Director James Comey began writing an exonerating statement about Hillary Clinton when she was still the subject of an investigation surrounding her emails, before interviewing key witnesses, FBI transcripts say.

The transcripts of interviews that involved two FBI officials close to Comey were provided by the Office of the Special Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the committee’s ongoing review of Comey’s removal from the bureau.

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The Special Counsel interviews were part of its investigation into whether Comey had violated the Hatch Act during the course of the investigation into the emails, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office.

“Both transcripts are heavily redacted without explanation,” said a press release from Grassley’s office. “However, they indicate that Comey began drafting a statement to announce the conclusion of the Clinton email investigation in April or May of 2016, before the FBI interviewed up to 17 key witnesses …”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley and Judiciary Committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote a letter to the FBI on Thursday requesting all drafts of Comey’s statement closing the investigation as well as any related emails or records from the Special Counsel Office’s investigation.

— by Molly Hunter