Intelligence panel to restart Russia investigation, ask whether Trump is compromised
The House intelligence committee announced a wide-ranging probe into President Trump’s administration Wednesday, questioning whether he, his children or his businesses have been compromised by foreign agents who have “leverage” over him.
Chairman Adam Schiff’s move defies Mr. Trump, who just a day earlier warned Congress in his State of the Union address that hopes for bipartisan cooperation this year rest on forgoing “ridiculous partisan investigations.”
The California Democrat said not only will his panel restart the Russia election-meddling investigation that Republicans conducted — and said they had concluded — in the last Congress, but he’ll go much broader, looking into whether anyone has managed to “compromise” the president.
“The committee must fulfill its responsibility to provide the American people with a comprehensive accounting of what happened, and what the United States must do to protect itself from future interference and malign influence operations,” the congressman said.
As a first step, he said the committee will release transcripts from the probes conducted in the last Congress, and he said the panel is committed to releasing investigative interview transcripts, though he signaled he will control the timetable.
Mr. Schiff’s five-part investigative plan includes reinvestigating “the scope and scale” of Russia’s election meddling; any “links” to the Trump campaign; whether any foreigner has “sought to compromise or holds leverage” over the president or his family; whether they are vulnerable to blackmail; and whether anyone is trying to interfere with congressional investigations into all of those issues.
– The Washington Times –
