Trump campaign aide to be questioned

Michael Caputo, who served as a communications adviser to the Trump campaign, has been asked by the House committee investigating Russian election meddling to submit to a voluntary interview and to provide any documents he has that are related to the inquiry.

The House Intelligence Committee, which is examining possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, made its request in a letter May 9. Caputo, who lives near Buffalo, New York, and was on the Trump team from November 2015 to June 2016, worked in Russia during the 1990s and came to know Kremlin officials. He also did work in the early 2000s for Gazprom Media, a Russian conglomerate that supported President Vladimir Putin.

Caputo has strongly denied any collusion between him or anyone else on the campaign and Russian officials. He has also accused the committee of smearing him.

A Democratic member of the panel, Rep. Jackie Speier of California, raised Caputo’s name during the March 20 hearing in which James Comey, at the time the FBI director, testified on Russia’s interference in the election. She noted Caputo’s work for Gazprom and that he met his second wife, who is Ukrainian, while working in 2007 on a parliamentary election in Kiev.

The committee’s letter said it wanted to discuss with Caputo a number of topics, “including Russian cyberactivities directed against the 2016 U.S. election, potential links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns, the U.S. government’s response to these Russian active measures, and related leaks of classified information.”

Caputo, who said he plans to comply with its request, told the committee in a written response he had no contact with Russian government officials or employees and did not discuss Russia with anyone else on the campaign, including Trump, during his employment.