I'm not sure if this article references that Comey was authorized by Mueller to testify in this article. It is possible that information came after this article was written in the news.
begin quote from:
Comey to testify publicly about Trump confrontations
| CNN | - |
Fired
FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as
early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President
Donald Trump ...
Source: Comey to testify publicly about Trump confrontations
Story highlights
- Mueller and Comey have discussed parameters to avoid conflicts with criminal probe.
- Comey is likely to confirm for the first time accounts of pressure from Trump over Russia investigations.
(CNN)Fired
FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as
early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President
Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump
aide's ties to Russia, a source close to the issue said Wednesday.
Final
details are still being worked out and no official date for his
testimony has been set. Comey is expected to appear before the Senate
Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible connections
between the Trump campaign and Russia during last year's presidential
election.
Comey
has spoken privately with Special Counsel Robert Mueller III to work
out the parameters for his testimony to ensure there are no legal
entanglements as a result of his public account, a source said. Comey
will likely sit down with Mueller, a longtime colleague at the Justice
Department, for a formal interview only after his public testimony.
When
he testifies, Comey is unlikely to be willing to discuss in any detail
the FBI's investigation into the charges of possible collusion between
Russia and the Trump campaign -- the centerpiece of the probe, this
source said. But he appears eager to discuss his tense interactions with
Trump before his firing, which have now spurred allegations that the
president may have tried to obstruct the investigation. If it happens,
Comey's public testimony promises to be a dramatic chapter in the
months-long controversy, and it will likely bring even more intense
scrutiny to an investigation that Trump has repeatedly denounced as a
"witch hunt."
The
appointment of Mueller as a special counsel in the Russia investigation
had raised concerns among some members of Congress that his probe could
scuttle the chance for Congress and the public to hear directly from
Comey. That appears less likely now that Mueller and Comey have
discussed the limits of his testimony.
Since
his firing last month, dramatic accounts have emerged in the New York
Times, CNN, and elsewhere about the tense confrontations with Trump that
Comey memorialized in memos afterward. A week after he took office in
January, Trump allegedly demanded Comey's "loyalty" if he kept him on as
FBI director, and he urged Comey to drop his ongoing investigation into
Michael Flynn, Trump's fired national security adviser, in a separate,
one-on-one meeting.
The source said that Comey is expected to stand by those accounts in his testimony.
"The
bottom line is he's going to testify," the source close to the issue
said. "He's happy to testify, and he's happy to cooperate."
Officials with the Justice Department and Mueller's office declined to comment.
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