President Donald Trump signaled that he will not try to stop fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey from testifying to Congress next week, The New York Times reported Friday.
Fired FBI director James Comey may tell the Senate Intelligence Committee next week that President Trump suggested he ease off at least part of the FBI's Russian Federation investigation.
Mr. Trump has made it much harder to assert executive privilege by repeatedly and publicly referring to his conversations with Mr. Comey, Mr. Rozell said. Further, Mr. Comey said on May 3 that neither President Trump nor anyone from the White House ever tried to hinder an FBI investigation.
Democrats are expected to use his testimony to focus on the private meetings the former FBI director had with the President Trump, during which media reports claimed he was asked to drop the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
Could President Donald Trump keep former FBI Director James Comey from testifying to lawmakers about their private conversations?
He said he believes Comey is "probably upset" about his firing by President Trump, noting that people around Comey have been leaking information to the press. According to a Comey memo reported by the New York Times last month, Trump had asked Comey to lay off his agency's investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Mueller's Department of Justice probe will also investigate whether Russian Federation meddled in the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Trump abruptly fired Comey on May 9 as Comey was leading that investigation.
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The Comey associate, who wasnt authorized to discuss details of the testimony and spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to discuss the content of Comeys planned testimony. Comey reportedly detailed that request, as well as other interactions with the president, in a series of memos.
"I want to ask those individuals directly, 'Did they have that kind of pressure?'" Warner said, referring to Coats and Rogers. Comey's associates have said Comey told them Trump had asked for a pledge of loyalty to the president and later asked Comey to consider ending the investigation of Flynn. Before invoking executive privilege, the president typically obtains a written memorandum justifying the decision from the Office of Legal Counsel, a division of the Department of Justice. Trump faces another hurdle if he tries to block Comey's testimony.
Unless a last-minute claim of executive privilege from the White House halts Thursday's hearing, Comey will have an opportunity - under oath - to affirm his version of events.
The White House and Nunes have alleged that former democratic President Barack Obama's administration eavesdropped on Trump's campaign, an assertion that Comey has disputed and current U.S. officials dismiss as absurd.
Russia has repeatedly denied any effort to interfere in the U.S. election, and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said some Russians might have acted on their own without their government's involvement.
The report comes as there has been increasing talk of impeachment proceedings starting if it could be proven that Trump fired Comey to stop the investigation into Russian Federation.
United States intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to tilt the election campaign in Trump's favor, including by hacking into the emails of senior Democrats, a charge the Kremlin denies.
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