WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - A friend of former FBI director James Comey said on Tuesday (June 13) he is turning over to the FBI any memos he has of Comey's conversations with President Donald Trump, MSNBC reported.

It said the friend, Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman, confirmed to NBC News that "he's now turning over any Comey memos that he has in his possession to the FBI."

Comey, fired by Trump last month, said in congressional testimony last week that he gave a memo describing his conversations with Trump to a close friend and told him to share its contents with a reporter.

MSNBC said Richman also said Robert Mueller, special counsel leading an inquiry into possible links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, has been in touch with the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss how the panel can get access to the memos.

The MSNBC report came as US Attorney--General Jeff Sessions appeared on Capitol Hill for a high-profile public session with lawmakers to answer questions about his dealings with Russian officials.

Sessions is the most senior member of Trump's administration caught up in the controversy over whether associates of the president colluded with Russia to help Trump win the election.

Attention in Washington has turned to whether Trump might seek to fire Mueller, the former FBI director named last month by the Justice Department to head the federal probe into the Russia issue.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who would be responsible for carrying out any such dismissal, told a different congressional panel on Tuesday he would not fire Mueller without good cause and he had seen no such cause.

Sessions appeared before the intelligence committee just five days after Comey, whom Trump fired on May 9, told the panel Trump ousted him to undermine the agency's investigation of the Russia matter.