FBI director faces grilling

HEARING: COMEY, NSA CHIEF TO BE QUESTIONED ON WIRETAPPING, RUSSIAN TIES Britain strenuously denies involvement in spying on Trump.

FBI director James Comey will be in the hot seat today, facing lawmakers who accuse him of stonewalling Congress as they demand answers about Donald Trump’s potential Russian ties and the president’s extraordinary accusation of wiretapping by his predecessor.

The two explosive issues have preoccupied Republicans and Democrats alike for weeks, robbing Trump’s administration of a smoother rollout and raising uncomfortable questions about possible collusion between Trump associates and the Kremlin. The stakes could hardly be higher.

Comey will testify before the House intelligence committee at an open hearing aimed at investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election campaign.

National Security Agency director Mike Rogers is also scheduled to testify.

The US intelligence community has publicly blamed Moscow for hacks of the Democratic National Committee last year and suggested the cyber attacks were aimed at steering the election to a Trump victory. Russia has denied involvement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also probing Russian interference in the election.

Today’s hearing promises to be a very public showdown between the FBI and lawmakers, with the national security world certain to watch whether Comey drops a political bombshell on Washington.

Members of Congress have expressed mounting frustration over the lack of cooperation from the FBI about Russia and Trump’s incendiary wiretap claim, which Barack Obama and an array of other officials have flatly denied.

Trump has denounced the tumult over the Russia connections as a “total witch-hunt”.

The issue mushroomed last month when Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after it was revealed he misled top officials over his contacts with Russia. Around the same time, The

New York Times reported that US intelligence agents had intercepted calls showing that members of Trump’s campaign had repeated contacts with top Russian intelligence officials in the year preceding the November 8 election.

Adding to the intrigue, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any Russia-related inquiries after it was learned that he had met the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.

In a BBC interview published on Saturday, National Security Agency deputy Rick Ledgett called the suggestion – which a White House spokesperson conveyed to reporters – that British intelligence might have helped spy on Trump “just crazy.” British officials have vigorously denounced the allegation. –