The House Intelligence Committee will probe Russian interference into the U.S. election in public for the first time during a hearing March 20, committee chair Representative Devin Nunes announced Tuesday.
Among those invited to give public testimony are James Comey, the current director of the FBI who has been at the center of the controversy regarding his involvement in influencing the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails; Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency; and John Brennan, former CIA director.
President Donald Trump heightened the firestorm surrounding the Russia investigation when, late last week, he tweeted that phones at his New York high-rise building had been wiretapped at the behest of former President Barack Obama, a charge labeled "simply false" by an Obama spokesman.
"I think it's a valid question — if it was a question. Look at General Flynn — why was he being recorded? Was it incidental like we all assume or was it something else? Was there any other additional recording going on?" Nunes said, noting the House Intelligence Committee planned to looked into the broader issue of phone surveillance during the election even before the White House request.