Feinstein demands White House hand over details on Russia, Comey firing

By Jordain Carney - 10/27/17 03:22 PM EDT 201

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is asking the White House for documents tied to former FBI Director James Comey's firing and top Trump campaign officials, as Democrats move forward with their own investigation.

"The Judiciary Committee requested documents related to the White House's interactions with FBI Director James Comey regarding the FBI's investigation of alleged ties between President Trump's associates and Russia, or the [Hillary] Clinton email investigation. ... To date, we have received no response to these requests," Feinstein wrote in a wide-ranging letter to White House counsel Don McGahn.

The letter comes after Feinstein signaled that Democrats would push ahead with their own investigation into Trump, Comey and Russia's election interference amid an apparent split with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the committee.

"We have decided that each side is going to take a course and we'll share and if the other side wants to participate they can. ... So we are going ahead with some things," Feinstein told reporters.

The fracture of what had been a bipartisan probe appears to spawn out of a GOP push to revisit Obama-era scandals and dig into a controversial opposition research dossier compiled on Trump. Democrats argue the committee should be focused on Russia's election interference and any potential collusion.

Feinstein, in addition to the Judiciary Committee's outstanding requests, submitted more than a dozen additional requests for information to McGahn.

That includes asking for a letter from Attorney General Jeff Sessions about Comey, as well as a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which was originally used as the White House's reasoning for firing Comey.

Feinstein also wants press statements on Comey's firing and any documents from a White House meeting between Trump and Russian officials in May. The New York Times reported that Trump bragged during the meeting about firing Comey, who he called "crazy, a real nut job."

She is also asking for any documents tied to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, any communications from the Trump campaign's foreign policy team and all campaign communication tied to trying to "obtain, coordinate or otherwise use" information from Russian officials.

Feinstein is requesting that McGahn hand over information or statements on the July 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which included Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., Manafort and a Russian lawyer.

The letter is one of five sent on Friday by Feinstein, who is up for reelection next year and facing a primary challenge from the left.

She's also asking Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to be interviewed by the Judiciary Committee next month, and provide communications with dozen of individuals and documents tied to Russia's election interference.

Feinstein sent additional requests for information on Friday to Facebook and Twitter, as well as Cambridge Analytica, a data mining and analysis firm that worked for the campaign

The two social media companies have also been wrapped into a separate probe by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Feinstein is a member of that panel as well.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Alexander Nix, Cambridge Analytica’s CEO, told a third party that he reached out to the WikiLeaks founder last year about the emails that Clinton deleted from the server she used while secretary of State.

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Saturday, October 28, 2017