Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by President Donald Trump for refusing to enforce his original executive order barring refugees and visa holders from seven terror specific countries, has been invited to testify in front of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about Russia. Yates was a hold over from the Obama Justice Department and was praised by the left for refusing to uphold the travel ban.
The hearing, which will take place on March 20, will be the first in a series examining connections between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian officials. Russian efforts to influence the election and undermine American faith in democracy will also be closely examined.
FBI Director James Comey, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Former CIA Director John Brennen and others have also been invited to testify.
In December, the intelligence community released a report showing while the Russian government did attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election through an online propaganda campaign, votes cast by Americans around the country were not changed.
"They did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort," Clapped said during testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the report in January.
"The Russians have a long history of interfering in elections, theirs and other people's," he continued. "I don't think we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election than we've seen in this case."
Since the election, the Trump administration has faced an enormous challenge of damaging national security leaks related to Russia, some of which led to the resignation of former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn last month.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member