Monday’s intelligence hearing highlighted the ‘big gray cloud’ of suspicion hanging over the White House. Here’s what happened – and what to expect
Watch highlights from Monday’s congressional hearing
Spencer Ackerman in New York
Wednesday 22 March 2017 07.31 GMT
A presidency under open-ended investigation for its ties to Russia. A director of the FBI, himself key in aiding the president’s election, not only confirming that inquiry but refuting the president’s claim of illegal surveillance by his predecessor.
The first open hearing into Donald Trump’s alleged Russia connections on Monday ensured that the US president will operate under a cloud of suspicion until either the various inquiries deliver credible public conclusions or Trump leaves office, whichever comes first.
Testimony from the FBI director, James Comey, indicated that for Trump, the allegations are no weather pattern, lasting for a finite time, but rather the climate for his presidency – what the House intelligence committee chairman, Devin Nunes, a Republican who was also a Trump transition official, angrily called a “big gray cloud”.
Here are critical questions for understanding that climate.
Where do the inquiries go next?
The next big calendar date for the public hearings is 28 March, when two Obama-era intelligence officials, the ex-director of national intelligence James Clapper and the ex-CIA director John Brennan, will appear before the House panel.