Donald Trump attacks Sally Yates hours before she testifies in Russia investigation

Ms Yates will testify to a Senate committee about what and when she told the White House regarding Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia

Sally Yates was fired in January for refusing to defend Mr Trump's travel ban (AP)

President Donald Trump has called on Congress to ask former acting Attorney General Sally Yates "if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers" - seemingly accusing her of leaking information after talking to the White House.

Ms Yates will appear before a Senate subcommittee to answer questions about when and what she told the White House regarding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia.

Mr Flynn resigned in February after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak.

Ms Yates reportedly went to the White House in the days following the inauguration to tell officials that statements made by Mr Pence and others about Mr Flynn’s discussions with the ambassador were incorrect, and that those contradictions could expose Flynn or others to potential blackmail by the Russians.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that Ms Yates had “informed the White House counsel that they wanted to give a heads up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict … The White House counsel informed the president immediately. The president asked him to conduct a review of whether there was a legal situation there. That was immediately determined that there wasn’t.’’

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus also echoed Mr Spicer’s assertion that counsel investigated Ms Yates’ information and found nothing.

But it appears that Mr Trump may be trying to divert attention from his officials’ alleged connections with Russia. On Monday the US leader tweeted: “Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Council.”

Mr Trump has offered no details to support his comments. Ten days into the Trump administration, Ms Yates, a holdover from the Obama era, was dismissed from her role as acting attorney general after she refused to uphold Mr Trump’s executive order imposing a travel and refugee ban on certain countries.

Mr Trump also defended Mr Flynn in another tweet: “General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama Administration - but the Fake News seldom likes talking about that.”

In response to that, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff tweeted: “​Mr. President: You failed to vet Flynn, hired him, and only fired him once his lies became public. Which part of that is Obama's fault?”