Top U.S.
intelligence officials will face questions on the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's probe into Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election and
fallout
from the firing of former FBI director James Comey when they appear at
a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
The U.S.
Senate Intelligence Committee's open hearing will feature officials closely
tied to President Donald Trump's abrupt firing last month of Comey, which
sparked accusations that the Republican president had dismissed him to hinder
the FBI probe and stifle questions about possible collusion between Trump's
campaign and Russia.
Deputy
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the second-ranking official at the Department
of Justice who signed a letter recommending Comey's dismissal, will testify, a
day ahead of Comey's own hotly anticipated testimony in the investigation of
Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election.
Rosenstein's
public testimony will be the first since he appointed - in the face of rising
pressure from Congress - former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel
investigating possible links between Russia and the election.
Acting FBI
Director Andrew McCabe, who took over after Comey was fired, will also be at
the hearing.
The probe
has hung over Trump's presidency since he took office in January and threatens
to overwhelm his policy priorities.
The Kremlin
denies U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusion that Moscow tried to tilt the
election campaign in Trump's favor, including by hacking into the emails of
senior Democrats. Trump has denied any collusion.
"I know
that there are going to be members who want to hear from Deputy Attorney
General Rosenstein about his involvement in the (Comey) firing," Senator
Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told Reuters.
National
Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers and Director of National
Intelligence Dan Coats will also be present at the hearing originally set to
discuss a foreign surveillance law.
"My
hope will be that Admiral Rogers and Director Coats won't try to hide behind
executive privilege ... about the press reports about the president asking them
to downplay the Russia investigation," Warner said.
The
Washington Post reported on May 22 that Trump had asked the officials to help
push back against the FBI investigation into possible coordination between his
campaign and Moscow, citing current and former officials.
The two
refused to comply with the request, which they regarded as inappropriate, the
Post report said.
The
Washington Post separately reported on Tuesday that Coats told associates in
March that Trump asked him if he could intervene with then FBI Director Comey
to get the FBI to back off its focus on Michael Flynn, the former national
security adviser, in its Russia probe, according to officials.
The
intelligence officials are also expected to defend Section 702 of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA -- the stated topic of the hearing --
which will expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress votes to reauthorize it.
Section 702
allows the NSA to collect digital communications of foreigners believed to be
living overseas whose communications pass through U.S. telephone or Internet
providers. Information about Americans is also sometimes incidentally gathered,
such as when someone is communicating to a foreign target which privacy
advocates have long argued evades Constitutional protections against
warrantless searches.
U.S.
surveillance practices have come under increased scrutiny amid unsubstantiated
assertions by Trump and other Republicans that the White House under former
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, improperly spied on Trump or his
associates.
There is no
evidence that political motives drove Obama administration officials to request
the names of Trump associates in any intercepts. The requests underwent every
required evaluation, and they produced nothing out of the ordinary, according
to four current and former officials who have reviewed the materials.
REUTERS*
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