Tempers flare as Senate advances Russia probes

WASHINGTON — Two Senate committees ramped up probes Thursday of the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016, holding acrimonious meetings on nearly 90 subpoenas targeted at Obama administration officials and others.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on partisan lines to give committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) authority for 35 subpoenas.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) delayed a vote on 53 subpoenas there, as Democrats accused him of launching a political mission for President Trump’s reelection campaign.

“We are on the precipice of falling into a political errand,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), arguing that the committee has exercised almost no oversight on anything else, but was now pushing a probe sought by the White House.

Graham and other defenders of Trump contend the investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign was partisan, ginned up by Democrats who funded former British agent Michael Steele to create his infamous dossier.

Democrats point out the investigation began after Russians hacked Democratic servers and began leaking damaging emails — leaks that a Trump campaign adviser appeared to know about in advance.

The dossier was used in part in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get warrants to eavesdrop on Carter Page, who had left the Trump campaign. The FBI believed Russian intelligence had been trying to exploit Page for years.

But a Justice Department inspector general review found that after the initial, proper warrant the FBI got, agents left out exculpatory evidence in three renewals of it. Republicans argue the initial warrant was baseless.

Graham said it’s his job to find out why agents left out important evidence, and ripped Democrats for being unwilling to help him.

“The reason I’m doing this is you’ve made it abundantly clear, you don’t agree with what I’m doing. You think I’m in Trump’s pocket,” Graham said. “But to expect me to punt? You can forget it. We’re not going to punt. We’re not going to have a rule of law for Republicans, and a rule of law for Democrats, where it’s OK to turn the Republican nominee’s life upside down.”

Similarly, Johnson insisted there was growing evidence that the transfer of power from the Obama team to Trump’s was not “peaceful and cooperative.”

“It is our job to investigate and provide the American people a complete accounting of what happened during the last transition,” Johnson said. “The subpoena authority I am requesting today will help us gather the necessary information.”

One Republican, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) voted for the subpoenas to not “stand in the way,” but said he was “concerned that this is politically motivated.”