Trump reportedly signals he won't try to block James Comey's testimony
According to two senior administration officials cited by The Times, Trump did not plan on invoking his executive privilege to block Comey's testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and in fact wants Comey to testify because he wants the ousted director's statements to be made public.
One official said Trump had nothing to hide, The Times reported.
Comey is expected to answer questions on Thursday that may put pressure on the embattled Trump administration, including describing the conversations he had with Trump regarding Russia's meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
After officials in the White House floated the idea that Trump may attempt to block Comey from testifying, House Democrats from the Judiciary Committee wrote a letter saying that such a move would "obstruct the truth from both Congress and the American people."
Evan McMullin, former CIA operative and independent 2016 presidential candidate said in a CNN interview on Friday that "the president would be extremely foolish to try to block this."
"I hope the administration realizes it would be another mistake to try to block [Comey's] testimony," McMullin continued. "His testimony is in the public's interest."
Trump still has time to invoke executive privilege and prevent Comey from testifying next Thursday; however, legal experts say that doing so would bear grievous political risks, The Times reported.