begin quote from:
Seven subpoenas issued in House Russia probe
| The Hill | - |
The
House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday issued seven new subpoenas in
its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
TRENDING:
Just In...
-
Blog Briefing Room— 11m 28s ago
-
Administration— 17m 19s ago
-
Energy & Environment— 20m 8s ago
-
House— 36m 36s ago
-
Administration— 39m 50s ago
-
International— 43m 7s ago
-
House— 1h 2m ago
-
Administration— 1h 10m ago
The
House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday issued seven new subpoenas in
its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Four
of the subpoenas are related directly to Russian meddling, which is
also also the subject of probes from the Senate Intelligence Committee
and FBI.
The other three focus on allegations of improper “unmasking” of Trump campaign officials, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Those
three subpoenas went to the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency and
are related to questions — primarily from Republicans — about how the
names of associates of President Trump were un-redacted and distributed
in classified Obama administration reports during the transition period.
The
committee said in a statement that it had issued subpoenas to former
national security adviser Michael Flynn and one company associated with
the former intelligence official, Flynn Intel Group LLC; and longtime
Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and his firm, Michael D. Cohen &
Associates PC.
The
statement did not address the three subpoenas related to unmasking,
reportedly related to requests made by former national security adviser
Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former United Nations
Ambassador Susan Power.
Power has not previously been reported as a potential witness in the probe.
Normally,
when government officials receive intelligence reports, the names of
American citizens are redacted to protect their privacy. But officials
can request that names — listed as “U.S. Person 1,” for example — be
unmasked internally in order to give context about the potential value
of the intelligence.
But Republicans want to know if any of those requests were politically motivated.
They
have signaled that they see unmasking as the key to investigating the
source of media leaks damaging to the Trump administration — such as the
exposure of Flynn, who was forced to resign in February after media
reports based on surveillance leaks revealed that he misled Vice
President Pence about the contents of his discussions with the Russian
ambassador.
The GOP seized on a Bloomberg View report
in April that Rice had requested that at least one Trump transition
team member be “unmasked,” leading to claims that the Obama White House
had intended to use that intelligence to damage Trump’s transition.
Rice has denied any political manipulation of intelligence by the Obama administration.
Earlier
in the year, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) stepped
back from the probe after making a clandestine trip to the White House
to view documents he says revealed inappropriate unmasking of transition
team officials.
The revelation quickly devolved into
partisan infighting that threaten to derail the House panel’s
investigation permanently. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) has taken over
the probe in Nunes’s place, and the fracas has largely died down since.
The
Senate Intelligence Committee is also investigating Russian
interference in the election and has issued its own slate of subpoenas
targeted at Flynn.
Earlier
this month, the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to
oversee the federal government's probe following Trump's surprise firing
of FBI Director James Comey.
No comments:
Post a Comment