Sally Yates
© WikipediaFormer Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Senators should ask former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates about classified leaks to the press when she testifies under oath before a Senate committee.

Yates will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday afternoon as part of an investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

"Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. [White House] Council," Trump said in a Twitter post.

US media reported Yates gave a forceful warning to the White House about Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak three weeks before Flynn resigned. The reports contradict statements made by the White House.

The White House said Flynn resigned because of misinforming to Vice President Mike Pence about those conversations. Flynn originally said sanctions against Russia were not discussed in his conversations with Kislyak, but then admitted they were mentioned.

Trump fired Yates on January 31 after she refused to defend his executive order on immigration in court.