. >> a preview of today's hearing, here's jessica snider from washington. >> tough and intense questioning is expected today when the attorney general testifies several questions linger including what role does jeff sessions have in the firing of james comey. especially since sessions recused himself from the russia investigation. also what is sessions' response to the session that he left him ae loan with the president and didn't respond when he said it was inappropriate. and what happens most pressing, did jeff sessions have a third undies closed moting with the russian ambassador in april 2016. that's something that james comey told senators in a closed door session last week that investigators are looking into. so all of these questions swirl all as the white house is is weighing whether to excerpt exec ty privilege. sean spicer would only say it would depend on the scope of the questions, but a senior administration official says that the white house might hold back and hope that jeff sessions is restrained on his own. there's a lot of anticipation for what will likely be another larg

more from cnn's jessica snider. >> reporter: the embattled attorney general is about to be grilled aboutis interactions with russians. james comey revealed in a closed door briefing that jeff sessions they have had a third closed door meeting with kislyak. >> we also were aware of facts i can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia related investigation problematic. >> reporter: the first at the may flower hotel. investigators caution the encounter, learned about through russian-to-russian intercepts may have been exaggerated. the meeting never happened and if it did it could put sessions in serious legal jeopardy. >> possibly in violation of the law. that denial as former -- >> so it could be perjury? >> could be perjury. >> reporter: a source close to sessions says they have beened a odds in reeceants wecent weeks. >> i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> reporter: that came after the attorney general admitted he failed to disclose two meetings with ambassador ciskislyak. but they maintain it was solely beca

jessica snider reporting. >>> congressman mark quick lee. illinois congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> in the 18 days between the warning about flynn and his dismissal spiraling by the president, the ceo met with top officials in the same room with attorney general michael flynn. >> will house intelligence committee call on tom pompeo for a closed discussion? >> i think that is a possibility. we can only encourage the majority to make invitations like this one. i would certainly support that. >> do you believe that mr. kushner's security clearance should be suspended? >> absolutely. i agree with elijah cummings. >> what are your concerns? >> a whole host of activity that i can't get into at this point in time, but they raise concern about his judgment and his ability to keep our nation secret. >> can you elaborate a little bit, because that's intriguing. mo more meetings that we don't know about? >> no, i'm only reference what mr. cummings is referencing, but some of those only come in a classified setting. >> right now h

our justice correspondent jessica snider is working the story for us. as you know scheduled to before before lawmakers thursday morning. >> reporter: and that testimony is greatly anticipated. it's slated to start at 10:00 a.m. thursday, and lawmakers are already gearing up for a long line of questioning, laser focused on the dialogue between the fired fbi director and the president, and the white house now says it will not stand in the way. a declaration from the white house that james comey's testimony will proceed unimpeded. >> president trump will not assert executive privilege regarding james comey's schedule testimony. >> reporter: comey will speak publicly to the senate intelligence committee thursday before moving into a closed session. for lawmakers the questions about his conversations with the president have been mounting. >> we want to find out what comey was thinking at that time, if he thought it have risen to that level of obstruction, and if it had, why hadn't something been done and why didn't he act on it? he was still fbi director. if