Lawmakers stand behind Russia probe
Some Republicans agree memo is apart from inquiry
WASHINGTON – While President Trump claimed vindication from a disputed memo about the Russia investigation, Democrats and some Republicans said Sunday that Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation needs to continue.
Democrats also warned that any attempt by Trump to use the memo to remove Mueller and short-circuit the Russia investigation would trigger a constitutional crisis.
“The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president’s bidding,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on ABC’s This Week.
Congressional Republicans said the newly released memo, written at the direction of Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., raises serious questions about the FBI’s handling of the Russia case, particularly a dossier compiled on Trump, his aides and the campaign’s contacts with Russia ahead of the 2016 election.
But some GOP lawmakers on Sunday interview shows said the memo has nothing to do with the Mueller investigation, which also involves whether the president and his aides sought to obstruct justice.
“There is a Russia investigation without a dossier,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy, RS.C., on CBS’ Face the Nation.
Republicans and Democrats continued to argue about the significance of the Nunes memo that Trump cleared for release Friday over the objections of the FBI and the intelligence community.
Citing claims in the memo, Republicans said the FBI obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on a Trump campaign adviser in 2016 based on the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer retained by an opposition research firm and financed by Democrats.
Democratic members of Congress described the memo as misleading and incomplete. They said the FBI sought the warrant based on evidence of multiple contacts between the Trump aide, Carter Page, and the Russians.
Schiff and others said the FBI had many reasons to place Page under surveillance and conduct other aspects of an investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump or his associates were involved. They also seek to release a memo of their own making those points.
Former CIA director John Brennan told NBC’s Meet the Press that the FBI would have been “derelict” not to look into the Russia case.
“The FBI had visibility into a number of things that were going on involving some individuals who may have had some affiliation with the Trump campaign,” Brennan told NBC.
Trump offered his own interpretation of the Nunes memo Saturday on Twitter.
“This memo totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe,” the president tweeted Saturday. “But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!”
Trump’s critics said they believe Trump may use the Nunes memo a pretext to dismiss Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — who appointed Mueller as special counsel — and ultimately Mueller himself.
This would be “an extreme event,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on CNN’s
State of the Union, and “could create a constitutional crisis in this country.”
Even some Republican lawmakers, however, have said the memo has no bearing on the Mueller investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russians who sought to influence the 2016 presidential election through hacked emails and fake news. Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation includes Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in May.
“I support the Mueller investigation,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said on CNN.
In the wake of the memo’s release, Trump has passed up numerous opportunities to endorse Rosenstein. Asked Friday whether he still had confidence in his deputy attorney general, Trump said, “You figure that one out.”
Administration officials have said Trump discussed trying to fire Mueller in June, but attorneys talked him out of it. In the months since, they said, Trump and his attorneys have worked with Mueller’s office and are confident the president will be exonerated.
The memo fight takes place as attorneys for Trump and Mueller negotiate possible testimony from the president.