U.S. Senate intel panel invites James Comey to testify in Public

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday said the panel's Republican chairman has extended an invitation to fired FBI director James Comey to testify publicly before the panel.

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat said that the invitation signed by chairman Richard Burr, has been sent to Comey.

It is most likely that Comey will testify before Congress about his meetings and interactions with Trump and also on the Moscow's meddling in U.S. Presidential election and the links of Trump campaign officials with Russian officials.

Comey had testified exactly 10 years ago in the Senate about his famous hospital-room showdown with former U.S. President George W. Bush's White House aides at John Ashcroft's bedside, CNN reported.

The White House has denied a media report suggesting that President Donald Trump had asked the sacked FBI chief James Comey to end the investigation against former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn.

"President has never asked Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn. The President has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the President and Comey," said a White House official.

President Trump fired Comey last week following which the administration officials provided multiple, conflicting accounts of the reasoning behind the dismissal.

The White House said at the time that Comey was fired based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

In a separate letter, Rosenstein argued that it was his transgressions over the Clinton email investigation that were the cause of his dismissal, while laying out the reasons for Comey's firing.