Sen. John McCain will question former FBI Director James Comey
Jun 7, 2017, 4:36 AM | Updated: 11:36 am
(AP Photos)
(AP Photos)
PHOENIX — When former FBI Director James Comey testifies on Thursday, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be one of the people who questions him.
CNN reported that an odd Senate rule would allow McCain to step in as one of the questioners Thursday morning.
An interesting wrinkle: @SenJohnMcCain will be questioning Comey on Thursday, b/c he's an "ex officio" intel member as SASC chair
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) June 6, 2017
As chair of the Armed Services Committee, McCain is automatically invited to the intelligence panel hearing.
McCain was brief when speaking to the outlet about what he hoped to hear from Comey.
“Let’s see what he says,” McCain told CNN. “I want to wait and see what he says.”
President Donald Trump declined Monday to assert executive privilege to block the former director from testifying on Capitol Hill.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president’s power to invoke executive privilege is “well-established.” 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 Russia.
On Tuesday, Trump was tight-lipped when asked about Comey, saying only, “I wish him luck.”
Comey’s testimony before the Senate intelligence committee marks his first public comments since he was abruptly ousted by Trump on May 9.
Since then, Trump and Comey allies have traded competing narratives about their interactions. The president asserted the then-director told him three times that he was not personally under investigation.
The former director’s associates allege Trump asked Comey if he could back off an investigation into Michael Flynn, who was fired as national security adviser because he misled the White House about his ties to Russia.
Comey is expected to stick to the facts of what occurred and avoid presenting any sort of legal conclusion, according to a person familiar with the expected testimony who was not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
McCain also spent Wednesday grilling intelligence officials, including Dan Coats, director of national intelligence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
