The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
» Inquiries into Hillary Clinton’s email and a Russia uranium deal are planned,
Russia probe, 2016 election themes revisited in D.C.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday revived familiar themes from the 2016 election, launching new probes looking back at the Obama administration and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s emails as close associates of President Donald Trump faced tough questions on Capitol Hill.
The announcements of the investigations by three GOP committees were criticized by Democrats as a “massive diversion” from congressional probes into potential coordination between the Kremlin and associates of the Trump campaign — and from two witnesses close to President Donald Trump that appeared privately before the House intelligence panel as part its Russia probe.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and his former campaign digital and data director, Brad Parscale, were both interviewed by the House panel behind closed doors Tuesday. Cohen’s interview started in the morning and lasted around six hours, while Parscale’s lasted most of the afternoon.
Two lawmakers familiar with Cohen’s interview said it had been “contentious,” especially with Cohen’s lawyer who tried to limit some questions. The lawmakers asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.
Cohen, a former executive with the Trump Organization who had been subpoenaed by the House panel earlier this year, was in talks to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, but ended those negotiations as Trump’s White House bid caught fire. In a statement to the Senate intelligence committee in August, Cohen said the proposal was “solely a real estate deal and nothing more.”
One of the lawmakers said Parscale “categorically denied” he was involved in any collusion with Russia, repeating earlier public statements. Lawmakers have been investigating whether Russian efforts to influence social media in the U.S. were in any way connected to Trump’s campaign.
As Cohen spoke to investigators, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., held a news conference outside the room to announce a separate committee investigation into an Obama-era uranium deal.
Nunes earlier this year stepped back from the committee’s investigation into Russian election interference after criticism that he was too close to the White House. But he has continued to be involved with some aspects of it, including signing subpoenas.
Nunes’ investigation into the uranium deal will be a joint effort with the House Oversight and Government Reform panel. The oversight committee also announced a second new investigation Tuesday along with the House Judiciary Committee into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation and the decision not to prosecute her.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said the investigations show Republicans’ “fundamental lack of seriousness” about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
“Acting on the urging of the president who has repeatedly denied the intelligence agencies’ conclusions regarding Russian involvement in our election, they are designed to distract attention and pursue the president’s preferred goal — attacking Clinton and Obama,” Schiff said.
Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, the Republican who took over the Russia probe after Nunes stepped back, said the uranium investigation won’t be a distraction. “I’m not involved,” he said.
Nunes and other Republicans who announced the probe said they want to know more about whether Obama’s Department of Justice was investigating the purchase of American uranium mines by a Russian-backed company in 2010. The agreement was reached while Hillary Clinton led the State Department and some investors in the company had relationships with former President Bill Clinton and donated large sums to the Clinton Foundation.
While Democrats have dismissed the issue, which was also brought up during the campaign, as widely debunked, Trump has called it “the real Russia story.” The White House praised Nunes’ move, with spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying the investigation is a “move in the right direction, and something that we’ve spoken about several times here — that if there was any collusion whatsoever during the campaigns of any point — or any collusion at any point with another country, that they should look at the Clintons.”