FBI Director James Comey will testify before the House Intelligence Committee today, alongside National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers, at a hearing about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comey’s public testimony comes after Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, confirmed that they gave Comey until this past Wednesday to inform the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism about whether the FBI is investigating President Trump’s wiretapping claim about Obama. Graham said that if Comey doesn’t provide the information, his subcommittee in the Senate would issue subpoenas.
→ When: Monday, March 20
→ CBSN’s coverage begins 10 a.m. ET
→ Online: CBSN will broadcast a video stream.
→ On TV: CBS News, other broadcast/cable news channels
Comey’s hearing also comes after the panel’s leaders, Chairman Devin Nunes, R-California, and Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-California, said they have not seen any evidence from the Justice Department that supports Mr. Trump’s claim that President Obama had tapped his phones at Trump Tower during the election. The top members of the Senate Intelligence Committee also say that they’ve seen no evidence suggesting Mr. Trump’s phones at Trump Tower were tapped by Obama. The FBI director had previously briefed leadership in the House and Senate — known as the Gang of Eight — on Mr. Trump’s wiretapping allegations and other national security matters.
Meanwhile, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, released documents last Thursday that show Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was paid more than $67,000 from Russia companies before the presidential election. He accepted, for example, $33,750 from Russia’s government-run television station to appear at a December 2015 event in Moscow.
The U.S. intelligence community issued a report in early January in which the CIA, FBI and NSA concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign involving covert intelligence operations and overt propaganda to undermine faith in the 2016 U.S. election, disparage Hillary Clinton and help Mr. Trump’s election chances.
