Sally Yates Senate Testimony: How to Watch Online & Time Schedule

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Sally Yates speaks during a press conference to announce environmental and consumer relief in the Volkswagen litigation at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on June 28, 2016. (Getty)

The day has come for former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Russia.

Yates will field questions and speak on the topic of “Russian Interference in the 2016 United States Election” on Monday and shed light into what role the country had in tampering with the election.

The testimony is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EDT on Monday and can be seen on a number of different places online, including C-SPAN.

A live stream will also likely be available on a number of news networks, such as CNN and MSNBC.

Questions almost certainly will revolve around Michael T. Flynn and the role he played in the Russian interference. Flynn was appointed by President Donald Trump to be the national security advisor, but served in the role for less than a month. He resigned under intense scrutiny about his past communications with Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. The Trump administration said he resigned after “misleading” Vice President Mike Pence when questioned about his ties to Russia.

Flynn’s tenure as the national security advisor is the shortest in the history of the office. It later came out that Flynn had accepted money from entities in Russia and failed to reveal that he did.

Yates had said that she warned the Trump administration that Flynn had misled senior officials about his communications, but nothing was done.

Instead, Yates was fired from her role as attorney general by Trump just 10 days into his presidency. That dismissal came after she told the Department of Justice to “not defend” Trump’s executive order that was related to immigration.

She said in a statement that she didn’t think the executive order was lawful.

At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities of the Department of Justice, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful…I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right. For as long as I am the acting Attorney General, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of this executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.

Now, Yates will get her opportunity to speak out on exactly what she knew about Flynn’s ties to Russia. She’s expected to publicly confirm the reports that she warned the administration about Flynn for the first time and give additional information about the administration’s ties to Russia.

The White House has long lobbied for Yates not to testify in front of Congress, as The Washington Post reported.

Letters obtained by The Post said that the Trump administration had tried to block her from testifying because the things she would speak about were covered by the “attorney-client privilege or the presidential communication privilege.”

Yates was appointed and confirmed to the position of deputy attorney general in May 2015 under President Barack Obama.

Two years later in January 2017, she accepted an offer from the Trump administration to be the “acting” attorney general until the successor to Loretta Lynch was confirmed by the Senate.