Former CIA Director John Brennan will testify before the House Intelligence Committee next Tuesday.
Brennan will testify in both an open and closed setting, according to the committee, which is investigating several aspects related to Russia’s meddling in the presidential campaign.
Brennan was initially invited to testify in late March, but the plan was cancelled for unexplained reasons by Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the committee.
Nunes has since recused himself from the investigation. Republican Texas Rep. Mike Conaway is now overseeing the probe, which is looking into whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government and whether the Obama administration illegally leaked classified information about Trump associates.
The FBI and several congressional committees are investigating Russia’s meddling in the election, creating scheduling issues for hearings. Former Director of National Intelligence and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee last week. The House Intelligence and Senate Intelligence Committees have also considered inviting the two Obama appointees to testify.
Brennan is the only witness listed for the hearing. He will likely be asked whether there is evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin to influence the election and whether he had any role in leaking the identities of Trump associates to the media.
Brennan has largely avoided the public spotlight since leaving office on Jan. 20. But he has given a couple of interviews in which he discussed the state of the Russia investigation.
In an interview with BBC last month, Brennan declined to comment on claims made in an uncorroborated dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele that the Kremlin has blackmail material on Trump.
“There are active investigations ongoing right now about Russian involvement in the last presidential election, and there are two investigations in the Congress as well as FBI investigations, so I’m going to leave to them to make determinations about what the Russians did or what they might have,” Brennan said.
Brennan could also face questions about a January meeting between President Trump and then-FBI Director Jim Comey. Various claims have been made about the discussions at that meeting, including whether Comey informed Trump that he was not a target in the Russia investigation.
Brennan said in February that he did not believe that Comey would provide such information to Trump.
“I have tremendous respect for Jim Comey’s competence and integrity, and it’s been my experience working with Jim that he wouldn’t do anything that was going to in any way compromise the integrity of an ongoing investigation,” Brennan said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”