Former acting attorney general Yates warned that testimony could be barred

WASHINGTON — The turmoil surrounding the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's interference with the 2016 election deepened Tuesday, with the disclosure that former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was warned last week that her testimony could contain privileged communications involving the White House that might be barred, a official familiar with matter said.

Ultimately, Yates' scheduled Tuesday appearance was canceled by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., But before that hearing was called off, the caution was delivered to Yates in a flurry of letters involving her attorney, the Justice Department and the White House Counsel's Office. The hearing also was to include testimony from former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

A letter from the Justice Department indicated that much of Yates' possible testimony could be covered by presidential privilege, said a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak publicly. Yates' attorney was then referred to White House counsel Donald McGahn. On the day that McGahn was notified of Yates' intention to testify, Nunes canceled the hearing.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer acknowledged the sequence of events, but asserted that the White House took no action to block Yates' testimony. In notifying McGahn of Yates' plan to testify, the former acting attorney general's attorney asked that the White House counsel offer any objection by March 27, the day before Yates' scheduled appearance. The White House offered no response because the hearing was abruptly canceled.

"To suggest in any way shape or form that we stood in the way (of Yates' testimony) is false,'' Spicer said. "We have no problem with her testifying.''

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At one point during Tuesday's briefing, Spicer mocked the media's focus on the Russia inquiries, saying: .
"If the president puts Russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a Russian connection."

Yates was abruptly fired in January after she directed Justice lawyers not to defend President Trump's controversial travel ban.

It was later revealed that the acting attorney general, a holdover from the Obama administration, had previously gone to the White House to inform McGahn that pre-inaugural communications swept up by intelligence authorities between the Russia ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Michael Flynn, who would later become national security adviser, indicated that Flynn had discussed sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.

The electronic intercepts contradicted Flynn's later statements to Vice President Pence. Yates had feared that Flynn's contradictory statements could have exposed him to possible blackmail attempts. The incident prompted Flynn's dismissal last month.

“Today's hearing would... have provided the opportunity for former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify about the events leading up to former National Security Adviser Flynn's firing, including his attempts to cover up his secret conversations with the Russian ambassador,'' said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence panel's ranking Democrat.

“We are aware that former Attorney General Yates intended to speak on these matters, and sought permission to testify from the White House,'' Schiff said. "Whether the White House's desire to avoid a public claim of executive privilege to keep her from providing the full truth on what happened contributed to the decision to cancel today's hearing, we do not know. But we would urge that the open hearing be rescheduled without further delay and that Ms. Yates be permitted to testify freely and openly so that the public may understand, among other matters, when the president was informed that his national security adviser had misled the vice president and through him, the country, and why the president waited as long as he did to fire Mr. Flynn.”

The Washington Post first disclosed the letters raising concerns about Yates' testimony.

White House denials

While Spicer dismissed the suggestion that the White House had blocked Yates' intention to appear, the dispute, however, only added new fuel to the controversy engulfing the House panel.

Schiff and and other Democratic lawmakers have called for Nunes to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia inquiry, based largely on a series of disclosures about a secret meeting last week at the White House complex where the chairman said he viewed classified intelligence reports indicating that communications involving an undisclosed number of Trump transition officials, and possibly Trump, were swept up in surveillance.

The following day, Nunes discussed the findings with reporters and later briefed Trump before sharing the information with fellow committee members, prompting concern that the chairman, a former Trump campaign adviser, sought to provide political cover to the president.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has continued to support Nunes' continuing leadership of the committee.

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