The Senate Intelligence committee announced it will hold its annual hearing assessing worldwide threats next week, with testimony expected to include FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The meeting will occur Tuesday and also include Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, NSA Director Michael Rogers, DIA Director Robert Ashley and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo, according to a statement from committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr and ranking Democrat Sen. Mark Warner.
The hearing features the release of a unclassified document detailing the U.S. intelligence community’s perspective on current threats to U.S. national security.
Mr. Wray’s appearance, however, could trigger an entirely different set of questions related to a burning controversy on Capitol Hill over allegation that his agency and the Justice Department — abused America’s secret surveillance court — to spy on former Trump campaign advisers during the 2016 presidential elections.
The issue exploded across Washington last week after Republican House Intelligence committee members released a memo alleging the FBI and Justice officials engaged in political bias when obtaining clearance to surveil Carter Page.
Mr. Wray, whom Mr. Trump appointed last year after firing James Comey, issued a rare public warning against the memo’s release, stating the the FBI had “grave concerns” over the document’s accuracy.
In the wake of the memo’s release, Mr. Trump said the information it made public “vindicated” him from charges that his presidential campaign colluded with Russia. Democrats, meanwhile, insist the document was concocted to damage the reputation of the FBI and Justice Department and slow the Russian election-meddling probes.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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