Former CIA director says warned Russia
Kasowitz set to aid Trump
WASHINGTON, May 24: Former CIA Director John Brennan told Congress Tuesday he personally warned Russia last summer against interfering in the US presidential election and was so concerned about Russian contacts with people involved in Donald Trump’s campaign that he convened top counterintelligence officials to focus on them.
Meanwhile, a Senate committee issued two additional subpoenas to businesses of ousted Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, one of several key figures in the Russia-Trump campaign probe, and sent a letter to his lawyer questioning his basis for claiming a Fifth Amendment right not to provide documents.
If there is no response from Flynn, the Senate Intelligence Committee may consider a contempt-of-Congress charge, said Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina.
Tuesday’s letter narrowed the scope of the documents the panel is seeking. Flynn had rejected the earlier subpoena for records as being so broad that providing them could make him vulnerable.
Former CIA chief Brennan’s testimony to the House intelligence committee was the clearest public indication yet of the significance the Russia contacts play in counterintelligence investigations that continue to hang over the White House.
Brennan, who was President Barack Obama’s CIA director, said he couldn’t say whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, an issue being investigated by congressional committees and now a federal special counsel.
Brennan noted anew that US intelligence agencies had concluded “Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary (Hillary) Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency, and to help President Trump’s election chances.”
Trump has predicted the investigations won’t find collusion, and his efforts to cast doubt and curb the probes have led to the appointment of a special counsel at the Justice Department.
News reports that Trump asked his national intelligence director and National Security Agency chief to state publicly there was no evidence of collusion have heightened criticism.
Dan Coats, the current US director of national intelligence, declined to comment Tuesday on a Washington Post report that said the president had asked him to publicly deny any collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign.
Coats told senators at a Senate hearing that it would be inappropriate to discuss private conversations he’d had with the president.
Nevertheless, Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said Coats and NSA director Mike Rogers should provide explanations.
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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has enlisted his longtime attorney Marc Kasowitz in a stillforming outside legal team that will represent him in the investigation into Russian interference in the US election.
Kasowitz, who has a history of working on Trump’s most nettlesome legal issues, will likely be part of a group of outside lawyers, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.
Trump and top White House advisers have been considering whether to fill out the team with lawyers with deep experience in Washington investigations, as well as crisis communication experts, said the people, who demanded anonymity because they’re not authorized to disclose personnel moves publicly.
Neither Kasowitz nor the White House responded to requests for comment.
Kasowitz is a New York attorney who also represents ousted Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly.