U.S. President Donald Trump does not plan to invoke executive privilege to block former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey from testifying to Congress next week, according to a new report.
The New York Times cites two unnamed senior administration officials in a report published Friday, which advances earlier reports suggesting that Trump was still mulling the option.
The White House has not yet commented on the most recent report. “I have not spoken to counsel yet,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Friday. “I don’t know how they’re going to respond.”
Before Trump fired him in May, Comey led an FBI probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign.
A decision by Trump to block Comey’s testimony could incite further political backlash. Presidents can assert executive privilege to prevent government employees from sharing information, but it’s unclear which conversations between the two would be covered by that power. Comey is now a private citizen.