Senate probe could go past election
Warner: Russia inquiry is unlikely to end by Nov. 6
WASHINGTON – The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians in 2016 is unlikely to be completed until after the Nov. 6 election, according to Vice Chairman Mark Warner.
The committee would be “hardpressed” to release its findings before the midterm congressional elections, Warner, D-Va., said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Warner said in May that he believed the American people would tire of the Russia investigations if they weren’t completed this year.
The committee has already released some of its preliminary conclusions but has not yet issued key findings on the question of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The panel also is expected to issue findings on Russia’s manipulation of social media to influence American voters and on how the Obama administration responded to initial reports of Russian meddling in 2016.
Warner said the committee’s report “will be fairly harsh on some of the activities from the Obama administration and the FBI.” The Obama administration has been criticized for not doing enough to warn state election officials and the public about Russian meddling.
The committee has already agreed, on a bipartisan basis, with an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential race with the intention of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton.
The committee had originally hoped to finish its inquiry before the elections, but some members have expressed concerns about releasing a report right before the midterms. The investigation could help decide which party wins control of Congress.
Warner said the committee would still like to interview George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who has been sentenced to two weeks in prison for lying to the FBI about contacts he had with the Russians.
The senator said the panel also wants to talk to Michael Cohen, who was President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and “fixer.” Cohen pleaded guilty last month to eight counts of bank fraud and campaign finance violations – including paying off two women to silence them before the 2016 election at Trump’s “direction.” The women alleged that they had had sexual relationships with Trump.
“We do want to see Papadopoulos,” Warner said on CBS. “We also want to see Michael Cohen, who has indicated that he would come back without any immunity and testify before our committee, and our committee is the last bipartisan effort that’s trying to pursue these facts.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee is viewed as the most serious, bipartisan and credible investigation in Congress. A separate probe by the House Intelligence Committee concluded earlier this year, with the Republican majority finding that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians and the Democratic minority alleging that the probe was rigged to protect Trump.
Warner said special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation on behalf of the Department of Justice is the “main activity” because Mueller “has a lot more tools in his tool chest than we have at the Senate Intelligence Committee.”
“Donald Trump continues to say he’s done nothing wrong,” Warner said. “Then he should sit down and talk to the Mueller investigation.” The president has gone back and forth on whether he should talk to Mueller, whose investigation Trump has repeatedly denounced as “a witch hunt.”