James Comey to testify before Senate intelligence committee on 8 June

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/01/james-comey-testify-senate-intelligence-committee

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James Comey is to testify on 8 June before the Senate intelligence committee investigating Russian activities during last year’s election.

The committee said on Thursday that the former FBI director, fired by Donald Trump last month, would testify in an open session, which would be followed by a closed session.

The committee’s Republican chairman and senior Democrat have said members want to hear from Comey on his role in the development of the US intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered in last year’s election.

They say they also hope Comey’s testimony will answer questions that have arisen since Comey’s sudden firing.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has said the Russian state has never been involved in hacking.

Speaking at a meeting with senior editors of leading international news agencies Thursday, Putin said that some individual “patriotic” hackers could mount some attacks amid the current cold spell in Russia’s relations with the west.

But he categorically insisted: “We don’t engage in that at the state level.”

Putin also said: “No hackers can influence election campaigns in any country of Europe, Asia or America.”

US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic party emails, helping Trump’s election victory.

On Wednesday, the House intelligence committee said it was issuing subpoenas for Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former national security adviser and his personal lawyer, as well as their businesses, as part of its investigation into Russian activities during last year’s election.

In addition to those four subpoenas, the committee issued three others to the NSA, the FBI and the CIA for information about requests that government officials made to unmask the identities of US individuals named in classified intelligence reports.