Several reports suggest James Comey, the former FBI Director, will publicly testify before a Senate committee that President Trump put him under enormous pressure to discontinue the FBI investigation into Trump's former national security adviser Mike Flynn's ties to Moscow.
After Comey's dismissal, news reports emerged that Trump asked Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn during a February meeting in the Oval Office, the day after Flynn was sacked for misrepresenting his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
Comey is expected to answer questions on Thursday that may put pressure on the embattled Trump administration, including describing the conversations he had with Trump regarding Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Kellyanne Conway said the USA leader will make a decision on whether to invoke a doctrine called executive privilege. But Trump's ability to muzzle Comey could be stunted by the fact that he has already written a public letter and used Twitter to discuss the conversations.
Comey is also likely to be asked by lawmakers about Trump's assertion that the former FBI chief told him three times that he was not under investigation as part of the federal probe into his campaign's possible Russian Federation ties.
Nearly as soon as the executive-privilege trial balloon went up yesterday, the White House shot it down. The White House has denied that a "conversation of that nature occurred".
How would Trump invoke the privilege to block Comey's testimony?
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White House lawyers are still reviewing questions of executive privilege in advance of blockbuster testimony by the fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director next week, White House press secretary Sean Spicer revealed on Friday. But she said Trump wanted to allow for a "swift and thorough examination of the facts" related to Comey's ouster and the multiple investigations into his campaign's possible ties to Russian Federation.
Trump asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, said a person who was given a copy of a memo Comey wrote about the conversation.
Could Trump be challenged in court if he asserts executive privilege? Barack Obama invoked executive privilege during Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, which prevented Congress from questioning then-Attorney General Eric Holder.
The president has said he won't prevent Comey from testifying, but some say he could still change his mind.
"Jim Comey deserves to have his, in effect, day in court since the president's disparaged him so much", he said.
Conway wouldn't comment on whether Trump has tapes of his Comey conversations as he appeared to claim in a tweet, and whether he would release them.
The move means Mr Mueller's politically-charged inquiry will now look into Mr Flynn's paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman previous year, in addition to contacts between Russian officials and Mr Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the Nov 8 presidential election. "How is the president going to stop Comey from testifying?" Does Mr. Comey agree that that is what was said? Why would Trump say that before Comey had a chance to respond to Trump's version of the meetings?
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