White House officials flatly rejected a Washington Post story on Tuesday that accused the administration of trying block former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying before Congress about possible links between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government.
“The Washington Post story is entirely false,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. “The White House has taken no action to prevent Sally Yates from testifying and the Department of Justice specifically told her that it would not stop her and to suggest otherwise is completely irresponsible.”
Yates was scheduled to testify in the second open hearing conducted by the House Intelligence Committee on Russian involvement in the 2016 elections. The hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but then was canceled when Chairman Devin Nunes announced they invited FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers to come back to the committee and testify behind closed doors.
“I hope she testifies,” Spicer said during the Tuesday press briefing. “I look forward to it.”
Spicer said Monday that the White House never responded to a request from Yates’ attorney to clarify whether the president planned to exercise privilege over communications related to the dismissal of former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
A letter from the Justice Department to Yates’ attorney indicated the agency would defer to the White House on whether Yates’ conversations about Flynn would be withheld under executive priviledge.
However, the Post had reported that the Trump administration “sought to block” Yates’ testimony by invoking that privilege.
Yates was fired by President Trump in January after she declined to defend his initial travel ban against immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.
It was later revealed that Yates had notified the president and White House Counsel Doug McGahn weeks before ousted national security adviser Mike Flynn was fired that he may have been misled the Vice President about his correspondence with Russian officials during the presidential transition.
A Justice Department spokeswoman did not respond to Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
