Push for select committee on Russia gains traction
A dust-up between senior members of the House Intelligence Committee has given fresh momentum to Sen. John McCain’s call for a bipartisan select committee to investigate Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential election.
McCain, R-Ariz., since last year has been calling for creation of a special panel to probe Russian interference in American politics and brought up the idea again Wednesday after Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, told President Donald Trump and the media that U.S. intelligence “incidentally collected” communications from his post-election transition team.
The disclosure caused an immediate rift between Nunes and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat. Schiff complained that Nunes gave the information to the White House and the media before sharing it with fellow committee members who are investigating the Russia election controversy.
The dysfunction on the House committee furthers the perception that “no longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone, and I don’t say that lightly,” McCain told MSNBC’s
“This just Greta showsVan Susteren.a tremendous chasm between the two senior members of the House Intelligence Committee,” McCain said. “What we need is a select committee. We know that the Russians interfered with our election. They did not achieve in affecting the outcome, but we know that for sure. We know that there are cyberattacks going on all the time. There are leaks going on all the time. And so what we need to address this whole issue of what the Russians did, how they did it, the impact and what we do about it, I now believe belongs in the hands of a select committee.”
McCain, who is chairman of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee, added that he also would agree to creation of an independent commission to look into the matter, but “would probably prefer a select committee.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rejected McCain’s original call for a select committee in December, saying the Senate Intelligence Committee could handle any investigation. But the Nunes incident has given the idea new life.
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday tweeted: “McCain is right: Need select committee!” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., stopped short of agreeing with McCain’s call for a select committee, but said he “was very troubled” that Nunes would deliver information about surveillance to Trump before talking to Schiff.
“That seems, in my view, to break with protocol,” Flake said Wednesday during an evening tele-town-hall conference call with constituents. “I knowto look someat this committeehave Russianbeen calling angle.or commissionfor I’ve an said independent thatthe CongressI thought couldthat the do committeesthat on their in own, that we could go through regular order. I hope that’s still the case, but what happened today doesn’t do much for those of us who believe that the Congress can do it on its own. It’s very concerning to me.”
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., subsequently said, according to USA TODAY, that Nunes privately apologized to the other House Intelligence Committee members.
Nunes publicly defended his decision to brief Trump and journalists on the intelligence reports by saying he “felt he (Trump) needed to understand what I saw.”
Earlier in the week, FBI Director James Comey confirmed to Congress that the FBI is officially looking into the possibility that Trump campaign representatives colluded with Russians and other issues related to Russian election interference.
At the same appearance before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey also dismissed as baseless Trump’s March 4 tweet accusing former President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York City.
U.S. authorities have concluded that Russian hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee Clinton’s presidentialand campaignJohn Podesta, nominee chairman.2016 Hillary DemocraticThe private, internal were Democraticlater published communications on the Wiki Leaks website, and some of the messages were political liabilities for the Clinton campaign.
However, the intelligence community does not believe that the Russians hacked the election in a way that manipulated vote tallies in any states.