Republicans hit back over Trump probe
US House Republicans yesterday released the transcript of an interview with a Justice Department official linked to the early days of the Russia investigation, renewing their efforts to raise questions about the origins of the special counsel’s probe and pushing back on a sweeping new probe Democrats have launched into President Donald Trump.w
Senator Doug Collins, the top Republican on the judiciary panel, released the transcript of a private interview with Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, who was in contact with a former British spy hired to investigate potential ties between Trump and Russia as the investigation began in 2016.
Collins said there would be more transcripts to come — though didn’t specify which ones — as special counsel Robert Mueller begins to wrap up the Russia probe.
The move is the latest example of Republicans’ attempts to push back against the investigations, which Trump has called “presidential harassment.” Republicans have slammed the Democrats’ new probes, saying they are over-reach and a continuation of what they say was anti-Trump bias at the Justice Department. Mueller took over the probe in May 2017.
The Democratic chairman of the Judiciary panel, Jerrold Nadler, announced on Tuesday that the committee was sending 81 document requests to people linked to Trump and that the panel would launch a broad investigation of the president’s political, business and personal dealings. Trump: Cohen lied US President Donald Trump declared yesterday he rejected a personal appeal from his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a pardon, the strongest assertion yet that Cohen may have lied under oath.
Trump tweeted his claim after days of swirling questions about Cohen over the issue of pardons.
Cohen took to Twitter minutes later to deny the accusation. Sixth director down Bill Shine, the White House communications director, resigned yesterday after just eight months.
A statement from the White House said Shine would move into a role with Trump’s re-election campaign.
Shine becomes the sixth person to have held the top communications post in Trump’s White House in just over two years. That followed announcements of similar investigations from the House intelligence committee and its oversight panel.
Ohr was a key figure in an investigation launched by Republicans in 2017 that looked at whether Justice Department officials were biased or conspired against Trump as he campaigned for the presidency.