Former Obama White House officials Susan Rice and Denis McDonough will appear before the Senate intelligence committee this week, a source familiar with the proceedings told CNN.
Rice, President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser, and McDonough, Obama’s last chief of staff, are the latest high-profile witnesses to testify as part of the committee’s investigation into Russia’s interference into the US 2016 election.
Rice is not appearing Tuesday, the source added.
Rice and McDonough were part of the Obama administration’s response to the Russian hacking, which has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for not responding strongly enough to Moscow’s actions.
Their testimony, which will be in closed session, is the first time either official will appear before the congressional committees investigating Russia’s election interference and possible connections between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Rice was slated to testify before the House intelligence committee Tuesday, but her appearance was postponed to a later date, though she’s still expected to appear at some point.
The House panel is also working to bring in Samantha Power, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Obama.
House Republicans want to talk to Rice and Power about whether they improperly “unmasked” — or revealed the identities typically blacked out in intelligence reports — of Trump associates. But the Senate intelligence committee is likely to focus more on what the Obama administration learned about Russia’s hacking and the response to it.
On Monday, former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was seen going into the Senate intelligence committee offices.
The Senate intelligence panel leaders have also said they want to bring in officials who worked for the Trump campaign — including Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner — but the committee is focusing first on gathering documents from several Trump associates.