Trump, Russia on radar of review
Senate intel leaders will look at possible links to campaign
WASHINGTON — Senate Intelligence Committee leaders announced late Friday that they would look into allegations of links between Russia and the 2016 political campaigns as part of a broader review of the intelligence community’s report on Russian hacking.
Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., said their investigation, announced Tuesday, would review “any intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns” — a scope that includes allegations of ties between President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
Their announcement came as additional House Democrats called for FBI Director James Comey’s resignation, following a closed-door briefing from spy chiefs about Russia’s alleged election-related hacking in which they say Comey stonewalled members about whether the FBI is investigating links between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin.
Democrats accused Comey of being “inconsistent” for refusing to confirm or deny whether the FBI was investigating the alleged ties, despite his willingness to frequently update Congress on the status of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
They described the exchange with Comey as “contentious” and even “combative,” while leaders accused him of using a double standard.
“One standard was applied to the Russians and another standard applied to Hillary Clinton,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who one member described as “just outraged” at Comey’s resistance to questions.
House Democrats emerged from the briefing demanding that the FBI investigate what links may have existed between the Kremlin and Trump’s campaign.
Meanwhile, Trump’s national security adviser and Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. have been in frequent contact in recent weeks, including on the day the Obama administration hit Moscow with sanctions in retaliation for election-related hacking, a senior official said Friday.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer acknowledged contacts between Michael Flynn and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, but said a phone conversation occurred Dec. 28, one day before the sanctions were levied. Spicer said the men did not discuss sanctions. He did not deny additional contacts the following day.
Pelosi and other Democrats stressed that an investigation into any ties between Trump and Russia was vital, particularly in light of the release of new, unsubstantiated allegations suggesting the existence of compromising personal and financial links between Trump and Russian agents.
Senate Democrats emerged from a similar briefing with intelligence chiefs Thursday also expressing hope that the intelligence community would dig further into alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump critic who chairs the Judiciary Committee’s panel on crime and terrorism, would not say Thursday whether he is planning to dig into potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia, deferring to the FBI.
“If there were contacts that are unnerving, time will tell,” Graham said.
Democrats are also leaning into the agencies to further examine unsubstantiated allegations against Trump and the source behind them.
The source, according to British media, was a former MI6 agent named Christopher Steele, now in hiding.
Rep. Steve Cohen, DTenn., told reporters that intelligence chiefs think he was a “credible” source.
Cohen said he thought it would be “negligent if our intelligence officials didn’t attempt to talk to (Steele) and get his sources,” because Americans “need to find out if any of it’s true.”