U.S. lawmakers press intelligence chiefs on Russia ahead of Comey hearing

Top U.S. intelligence officials faced questions on the FBI probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and fallout from the firing of the bureau’s former director, James Comey, when they appeared at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s open hearing featured officials closely tied to President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing last month of Comey, which sparked accusations the Republican president was trying to hinder the FBI investigation and stifle questions about possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

The top Democrat on the committee said media reports that Trump tried to intervene in probes of possible Russian meddling in the election are jarring.

“If any of this is true, it would be an appalling and improper use of our intelligence professionals – an act that could erode the public’s confidence in our intelligence institutions,” Senator Mark Warner said.

The Washington Post reported on May 22 that Trump had asked the officials to help push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and Moscow.

The newspaper reported on Tuesday that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told associates in March that Trump asked him if he could intervene with Comey to get the FBI to back off its focus on Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, in its Russia probe.

The Russia probes have hung over Trump’s presidency since he took office in January and threaten to overwhelm his policy priorities, with several congressional committees also conducting their own investigations of the alleged Russian meddling.

Trump on Wednesday said he intended to nominate a former Justice Department official, Christopher Wray, to replace Comey as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In a much-awaited event, Comey will testify on Thursday before the same U.S. Senate panel, in his first public appearance since Trump fired him on May 9.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the second-ranking official at the Department of Justice who signed a letter recommending Comey’s dismissal, was to testify on Wednesday.

Rosenstein’s public testimony will be the first since he appointed – in the face of rising pressure from Congress – former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel investigating possible links between Russia and the election.

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who took over after Comey was fired, will also be at Wednesday’s hearing.

The Kremlin denies U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Moscow tried to tilt the election campaign in Trump’s favor, using means such as hacking into the emails of senior Democrats. Trump has denied any collusion.

National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers and Coats will also be present at the hearing, originally set to discuss a foreign surveillance law.

The intelligence officials are also expected to defend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which will expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress votes to reauthorize it.

Section 702 allows the NSA to collect digital communications of foreigners believed to be living overseas whose communications pass through U.S. telephone or Internet providers.

Information about Americans is also sometimes incidentally gathered, such as when someone is communicating with a foreign target, which privacy advocates have long argued evades constitutional protections against warrantless searches.