Tipsheet

It's Official: FBI Director James Comey to Testify About Russia, Trump Wiretapping Claims Next Week

Earlier this week, FBI Director James Comey was invited by the House Intelligence Committee to testify about Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Today, he's officially accepted the invitation and will testify under oath in front of the Committee on Monday. 

In January, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that although Russia did interfere with the 2016 presidential election through online propaganda campaigns, they did not change any votes.

"They did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort," Clapper stated.

There's no doubt Comey will also be asked about President Donald Trump's claims President Obama wiretapped him during the campaign. Last week Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for the warrants, should they exist, that led to alleged tapping of Trump Tower or Trump himself.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer expanded the definition of wiretapping to broad surveillance in an effort to explain what President Trump really meant. 

"The President was very clear in his tweet that it was wiretapping, that that spans a whole host of surveillance types of options.  The House and the Senate intelligence committees will now look into that and provide a report back," Spicer said. "But I think that there has been numerous reports from a variety of outlets over the last couple months that seem to indicate that there has been different types of surveillance that occurred during the 2016 election."

The Department of Justice asked for an extension Monday to provide information about wiretapping claims to the House Permanent Select Committee, whose members are investigating Trump's claim.