The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate panel vows to push Russia probe
Committee leaders project unity as House inquiry struggles.
WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Senate investigation into President Donald Trump’s possible ties to Russia on Wednesday sought to distance themselves from the flagging House inquiry, eager to establish their work as credible in the face of growing doubts about Congress’ capacity to hold Trump and his associates to account.
In a conspicuous show of bipartisanship during a fraught moment at the Capitol, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee pledged to forge ahead by interviewing key players connected to Trump and pressing intelligence agencies to provide all relevant information.
Their composed and seemingly unified display served as a contrast to the explosive and often bewildering statements from the Republican chairman of
the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, whose ties to the Trump White House have raised doubts about his ability to conduct an impartial investigation.
Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the Senate committee’s Republican chairman and a supporter of Trump during the campaign, on Wednesday suggested he would not shy away from a process that could damage the reputation of a Republican president.
“This investigation’s scope will go wherever the intelligence leads,” Burr said.
Asked later whether he could say yet whether Trump had been directly involved in talks with the Russians, Burr was stern.
“We know that our challenge,” he said, “is to answer that question for the American people.”
Burr and his Democratic counterpart on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, left little doubt that they viewed the House’s unruly process as an afterthought, one that should not reflect on their own efforts.
Each senator offered some evidence of what he had reviewed so far, with Warner saying that there could have been 1,000 internet trolls in Russia who generated fake news stories and targeted them at swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Burr noting that it was clear that Russians are “actively involved” in trying to influence the upcoming French elections. The committee will hold a public hearing on Russian interference today.
It was clear that Burr and Warner wanted to project a level of cooperation that has disintegrated in the House.
“Let me set the ground rules real quick,” Burr said before taking questions. “We’ll answer anything about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation. We will not take questions on the House Intelligence Committee.”
Burr could not suppress a smirk. Warner laughed outright.
The congressional inquiries are not related, but their focuses overlap, leaving the Senate panel to defend itself in the face of Nunes’ assorted claims. While the vast majority of Republicans in the House have stood by Nunes amid calls for him to recuse himself, his maneuvering — including bypassing his committee to brief the White House about relevant intelligence — has placed House committee members in an uncomfortable spot.
One Republican lawmaker, Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, suggested on Wednesday that the Senate should take the lead on Congress’ investigation into ties between the president’s orbit and Russia.
Democrats are skeptical. But they are also mindful that the Senate likely remains their best hope on Capitol Hill for gathering information, making them disinclined to abandon the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation.
For months, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has resisted calls for a special prosecutor or select committee to oversee the examination of Russian interference in the election.
Asked on Tuesday why the controversies involving Nunes had not caused him to change his mind, McConnell said, “Because it’s not necessary.”
“Chairman Burr and Sen. Warner are working together well,” he told reporters. “The Senate Intelligence Committee, I trust and our colleagues trust to follow every lead, to come up at some point with a report. I hope it’ll be on a bipartisan basis and we’ll find out exactly what happened.”
When a reporter asked about the House investigation, McConnell was disinclined to engage.
“I serve in the Senate,” he said tersely.
On the House side, a string of perplexing decisions by Nunes has threatened to unravel the panel’s inquiry. A week after he abruptly announced he had obtained information indicating people associated with the Trump transition may have been “incidentally” caught up in legal surveillance of foreign operatives, tempers are still hot over his decision to bypass the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, and brief Trump.
The president seized on the information as evidence for his claim that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower — an allegation dismissed by not only senior law enforcement officials including FBI Director James Comey, but also by the heads of the Senate and House investigations, including Nunes.
Another obstacle to bipartisanship came on Monday with the revelation that Nunes had viewed the evidence, which he characterized as “dozens” of reports containing classified information, on the grounds of the White House.
The once cordial relationship between Nunes and Schiff has dissolved amid the controversies. On Monday, Schiff led the Democratic calls for Nunes to recuse himself from the investigation, saying he had revealed himself to be too close to Trump to be unbiased.
At the same time, the Senate investigation has not been blemish-free. Last month, Warner publicly scolded his Republican counterpart after The Washington Post reported that Burr had spoken with the White House and engaged with news organizations to dispute reports that Trump associates had been in consistent contact with Russian intelligence operatives.
On Wednesday, each expressed full confidence in the other.
“Mark and I work hand in hand on this,” Burr said. “Contrary to maybe popular belief, we’re partners.”