Lawmakers broach possible Trump campaign coordination with Russia
Members of Congress made clear Tuesday they're increasingly willing to broach a taboo topic: possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Their emboldened approach comes amid a bombshell CNN report that intelligence officials last week presented Trump with alleged claims by Russian operatives that they have compromising information on the president-elect. According to CNN, Trump was also presented with allegations there was an "exchange of information" during the campaign between his surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.
Trump responded Tuesday night with an emphatic all-caps tweet: "FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!"
The subject is one lawmakers have largely avoided discussing since the presidential election, even as anti-Trump advocacy groups have sounded alarm bells about the president-elect.
But that changed Tuesday, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's meddling in November's election.
The hearing followed Friday's release of an unclassified version of an intelligence community investigation into Russia's interference in the election, which said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence operation to undermine Hillary Clinton and help Trump.
During the intelligence hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) noted the extensive ties between Trump advisers and the Russian government and pointed to an interview shortly after the election in which a top Russian diplomat said his government had had "contacts" with the Trump campaign.
Wyden then asked FBI Director James Comey, "Has the FBI investigated these reported relationships, and, if so, what are the agency's findings?"
Comey refused to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, saying he could not comment publicly about such matters. His response raised some eyebrows among Democrats and led to a biting response from Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): "The irony of your making that statement here, I cannot avoid, but I'll move on."
This was Comey's first public appearance since his decision shortly before the presidential election to alert Congress that his agency was examining new emails potentially related to the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails — a move that gave the Trump campaign momentum in the final stretch to Election Day.
"I would never comment on investigations, whether we have one or not, in an open forum like this," Comey said Tuesday. "So I really can't answer it one way or another."
He later acknowledged he was sometimes "tone deaf when it comes to politics."
During his exchange with Comey, Wyden urged the FBI director to provide an unclassified answer to his question before Inauguration Day, saying the American people "have a right to know" whether the FBI is investigating possible ties between the Trump team and Russia.
"If it doesn't happen before January 20th," Wyden said, "I'm not sure it's going to happen."
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Originally Posted by CPUd
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