Details sought on Trump team’s Russia contacts
WASHINGTON — A Senate committee investigating Moscow’s interference in last year’s election has asked several of President Trump’s associates to turn over information about possible contacts with Russian officials or businessmen. Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page responded on Friday, calling the congressional probe a “comically fake inquiry” but pledging to cooperate.
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Republican strategist Roger Stone and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are also among those the Senate intelligence committee has asked for information and documents related to its investigation.
Both the Senate and House intelligence committees along with U.S. intelligence and law officers are investigating Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. FBI Director James Comey has said that the FBI probe is exploring the nature of any links between individuals associated with Trump’s campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between Russia’s efforts and the Trump campaign.
The Senate committee would not disclose which individuals it is targeting, but in an email, Stone said he intended to comply with the committee’s requests.
“I am eager, indeed anxious, to testify in full public session, have requested no immunity and am ready to go,” Stone wrote. He also said that he rejects the claim that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Guccifer 2.0, the unnamed hacker who has taken credit for breaking into the Democratic National Committee servers, are Russian assets. He said the U.S. government has offered no proof to support that assessment.
Stone communicated through Twitter messages with Guccifer 2.0. Stone has said that he was unaware at the time that U.S. officials believed the hacker had ties to Russia.
The letters the committee sent to Stone and Page, which were shared with the AP on Friday, were virtually identical. The committee asked them to provide emails, text messages, letters, phone records or any other relevant information they have about meetings or contacts that they or any other individual affiliated with the Trump campaign had with Russian officials or representatives of Russian business interests.
The requests seek information about any contacts that occurred between the day Trump announced his candidacy, June 16, 2015, and his inauguration on Jan. 20. It also asks for information about Stone and Page’s financial and real estate holdings related to Russia.
In a written response to the committee’s request, Page argued that the panel was conducting a “comically fake inquiry.” At the same time, Page pledged to cooperate with the committee to “help resolve all of the false allegations which led to this fanciful witch hunt in the first place.”