Comey to Testify Publicly Next Thursday - Unless Trump Blocks Him

President Trump will apparently not try to cite executive privilege in an attempt to block the Russian Federation investigation-related testimony of fired FBI director James Comey, according to two senior Trump administration officials who spoke with the New York Times.

The subpoenas were announced as the special counsel overseeing the governments investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russian Federation has approved former FBI Director James Comey to testify before the Senate intelligence committee, according to a Comey associate.

In that hearing, he said: "I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts".

"The president will make that decision", she said.

Conway also took several shots at Comey - noting that after his last testimony, he had to release a letter correcting his statement that former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin had forwarded thousands of emails to husband Anthony Weiner's computer. Trump abruptly fired Comey on May 9 as Comey was leading that investigation.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives also have committees conducting their own probes into possible ties between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign.

"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go", Comey quoted Trump as telling him that day.

"I think he would be on shaky legal ground, to say the least", Warner told CNN's "State of the Union", citing Trump's public comments about his conversations with Comey.

FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., May 3, 2017.

Comey: Yes, our analysts had a view that I don't believe changed, from late fall through to the report on January 6 that it had those three elements. Comey reportedly kept detailed, contemporaneous memos of his conversations with Trump, which included requests that the FBI director swear loyalty to him and a personal plea to quash the Flynn investigation.

The New York Times reported that one official said Trump actually wants Comey to testify because the president has nothing to hide.

Should the President assert this privilege, Congress and Comey might argue that the doctrine doesn't apply here if the discussion was related to a criminal attempt to obstruct justice. Watch live in the player above.But Trump himself has repeatedly said that the Russian Federation probe was on his mind when he removed Comey.

A similar back-and-forth occurred before the testimony last month of former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, though the White House said it did not try to block her appearance.

When Comey reemerges in public before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, he could well be asked whether he was lying in his earlier testimony.

Collins says that while the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is "taking up a great deal of time" the committee is eager to question Comey on the circumstances following his recent termination. Spokesman Sean Spicer said on Friday that Trump continues to meet with candidates but would not give a timeline for choosing a nominee.

The term "executive privilege" is not in the U.S. Constitution. "There's a cloud over the presidency that needs to be removed if the facts justify it", he said.