US: Ousted FBI director to testify June 8

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Former FBI Director James Comey will testify in open session before the Senate intelligence committee next week, officials announced Thursday.

Chairman Richard Burr and Vice Chair Mark Warner said in a joint statement that Comey would testify in a public hearing on June 8. It will be followed by a closed-door session shortly thereafter.

The hearings are part of the Senate panel's probe of Russia's attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 race for the White House.

President Donald Trump abruptly fired Comey from his post early last month making the former FBI Director only the second top official to be ousted from office since the bureau's founding in 1908.

The White House has given various reasons for Comey's firing, including that he did not have the backing of the bureau's rank and file. The suggestion was strongly dismissed by Comey's number two, and now acting director, Andrew McCabe, who said he and a vast majority of the FBI strongly respects Comey.

The timing of Comey's firing, as the FBI probes possible collusion between Trump's presidential campaign team and Russia's attempts to influence the election, has stirred controversy, even among some members of Trump's party.

Following his dismissal, reports mounted that Trump asked Comey if he was under investigation in a separate FBI probe, and sought to have Comey end an investigation into former top administration official Michael Flynn.

The former NSA director had a remarkably short tenure. Trump asked for his resignation less than a month after the administration took office amid a scandal prompted by Flynn's misleading of senior officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, about his contacts with Russia's U.S. envoy.

Trump has strongly denied that either he or his campaign team in any way cooperated with Russian officials during last year's election.