The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House intelligence committee have voiced divergent goals for their investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, suggesting possible discord over how deeply Congress will examine any links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.
The committee announced Wednesday that it is investigating Russian cyberattacks in a parallel probe to the Senate intelligence committee investigation announced two weeks ago. The House committee said it has already received “important documents” and that staff members went to CIA headquarters on January 19 to review records.
But the House committee’s top Republican and Democratic leaders stressed differing questions they want to answer following the January 6 US intelligence report that found Russian President Vladimir Putin “aspired to help” the Trump campaign by publicly discrediting Hillary Clinton.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the committee’s top Democrat, told NPR on Thursday that the committee “certainly” would investigate “any links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.”
By contrast, Chairman Devin Nunes, a California Republican, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the panel wants to “get to the bottom of this intelligence report, whether it was put together properly or not.”
Nunes’ emphasis on the report’s integrity reflects his skepticism — shared by Trump — about the 26-page declassified document that concluded the Kremlin sought to boost Trump’s campaign. Nunes said shortly after the report came out that it appeared to be a politically motivated effort by Democrats to blame Russia for Clinton’s defeat.
Trump also has questioned the conclusion that Russia interfered in order to help his candidacy and he has denied any ties between his campaign and Russia and noted that nothing along those lines has been proven.
He also tweeted that the report was leaked to NBC News before he saw it and wrote that the intelligence committees should “investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.”
The intelligence report did not address any potential role of three Trump campaign advisers — Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Michael Flynn — who had business or social ties to Moscow. Trump named Flynn the White House national security adviser; Manafort and Carter are not part of the administration.
Both the House and Senate intelligence committees say they will investigate possible links between Russia and associates of any political campaign.
But Schiff made clear on NPR that the focus would be on the Trump campaign. Asked if he suspected a tie between the Clinton campaign and Russia, Schiff replied, “No, not at all,” and added, “We don’t want to exclude any possibility, but clearly there have been a number of very public allegations concerning the Trump campaign.”
The House intelligence committee did not put a timeline on its probe and said no decision had been made on whether it would release any report or statement at the end. The Senate committee said it will produce both classified and unclassified reports.
The House probe will differ from the Senate investigation in other subtle but potentially significant ways, according to a statement it released Wednesday.
The House committee will investigate “possible leaks of classified information” related to the US intelligence probe, and the “government’s response to these active Russian measures.” The Senate committee statement describing its investigation says nothing about those two areas.
The House committee’s focus mirrors Nunes’ concern that classified information was leaked to the media, and that the Obama administration ignored warnings about Russian cyberattacks.
Lawmakers warned the Obama administration about Russia’s “continued cyberattacks on this country. And they did nothing,” Nunes said January 9 on “Fox News Sunday.” “And so now, as you look forward, they lose an election and it appears like they want to change the scenario into somehow Russia was responsible for Hillary Clinton losing,” he said.
Schiff said Thursday that the committee wants to examine whether the government “acted the way we should.”
The House review of whether the intelligence report was done properly is “a normal part of our oversight activities,” Nunes spokesman Jack Langer said, adding, “We’re reviewing it to ensure that the underlying intelligence data supports the report’s conclusions.”
The Senate committee also said it would review “the intelligence that informed” the intelligence report.
Both committees are hoping to receive records at their Capitol offices instead of being forced by the CIA to travel to the agency’s suburban Washington headquarters for review. The CIA imposed such a restriction when the Senate intelligence committee investigated the agency’s detention and interrogation program in the early 2010s.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the congressional investigations.
