Good morning everyone, and welcome to a blockbuster day of testimony in Congress by James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director who was abruptly fired by President Trump last month. Comey will be testifying this morning before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about his personal interactions with the president and discussions about the government’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

I’m Julie Hirschfeld Davis, a White House correspondent at the Times, and I am joined here today by my colleagues who have been covering this saga day in and day out: Michael Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo, Charlie Savage, Matthew Rosenberg, Adam Goldman and Rebecca Ruiz. We will be providing real-time analysis and context for Comey’s comments as we all digest what are sure to be important revelations in the continuing probe into whether the president’s advisers colluded with Russia to sway the election, and what Trump may have said or done to try to influence that investigation.

Comey has already made his prepared statement public, and you can read all about what he plans to say here:

So the real action today will be in the question-and-answer sessions between Comey and the senators on the committee, who have now had ample time to formulate their lines of inquiry and drill down on specifics. And we will be watching for real-time reaction from the president, whose staff has made sure he has a busy schedule today, but who rarely resists the chance to weigh in via Twitter on news developments that pertain to him personally.