White House will not try to block Comey testimony

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the ongoing investigations into allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 election (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump will not assert executive privilege to try to block testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey.

Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders says the president’s power to invoke privilege is “well-established.” However, she says Trump will not take that step in order to ensure a “swift and thorough examination of the facts” related to Comey’s firing and the multiple investigations into Russia’s election meddling.

Comey is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill Thursday.

4 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says claims about Russian involvement in U.S. elections are untrue, and says the United States actively interferes with elections in other countries.

And he is dismissing as “a load of nonsense” the idea that Russia has damaging information on President Donald Trump. Putin made the comments in an interview with NBC’s “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the presidential election to hurt the bid of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump himself has been dogged by questions about any business dealings with Russia – he says he has none – as well as reports of a Russian dossier of damaging personal informatio