Obama official Samantha Power agrees to testify before House intel panel
Former Obama official Samantha Power, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has agreed to testify before the House intelligence committee as part of its Russia probe, Fox News has learned.
Power will join the roster of former Obama administration officials in testifying before the congressional panel as part of their probe into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign officials in the 2016 presidential election.
Some lawmakers also want to hear from Obama administration officials over their potential role in “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates from intelligence reports last year. Power and former national security adviser Susan Rice are among the former officials who could face such questions.
Rice initially had been expected to testify at a closed-door session Tuesday before the same House panel, but is instead expected to speak to lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee later this week.
Power, though, has agreed to engage with the House committee, a spokesman for the former ambassador told Fox News.
“Ambassador Power strongly supports any bipartisan effort to investigate and address Russia’s interference in our electoral process and she wanted to engage both House and Senate Committees charged with investigating it,” David Pressman, counsel to Power and partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, told Fox News. “Ambassador Power is very much looking forward to providing any assistance and encouragement she can to bipartisan efforts aimed at addressing this serious threat to our nation’s security.”
A date for Power to testify has yet to be confirmed, and a source close to the committee told Fox News it will not be this week.
Several other Obama officials are making an appearance on Capitol Hill this week to testify behind closed doors.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper appeared before both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Monday.
Former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough will also testify this week, Fox News was told.
All sessions with former Obama administration officials are set to be closed, according to sources on Capitol Hill.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/18/obama-official-samantha-power-agrees-to-testify-before-house-intel-panel.html