Congress does not know what happened to the counterintelligence investigation into President Trump, which began in July 2016 examining his campaign’s ties to Russia.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., says his panel has not been briefed on the counterintelligence operation in nearly two years and is taking action to find out the probe’s status.
“We don’t know what happened to the counterintelligence investigation that James Comey opened,” he said in an interview with the Washington Post that was edited for clarity.
Schiff said he would regularly get briefed at Gang of Eight level until President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Afterwards, the briefings were less frequent, but Schiff claims they lacked information about the counterintelligence operation looking into Trump.
Asked if there is any reason to believe the probe has been closed, Schiff said, “You know, I have not been able to get clarity on that. We have been seeking to get it, to get an answer from the Justice Department, from the counterintelligence division at the FBI, and we don’t have clarity, which is concerning.”
The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department last week for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report and underlying intelligence materials. The deadline is Wednesday, and Schiff signaled the prospect of contempt in a statement that said if DOJ “continues to ignore or rejects our requests, we will enforce our request in Congress and, if necessary, the courts.” He suggested the DOJ has yet to comply with the subpoena, calling Trump and Attorney General William Barr “fully obstructive” when it comes to document requests.
The effort elicited a rare show of bipartisanship in the committee, as both Shchiff and ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote to the DOJ that they wanted to see the intelligence and counterintelligence documents. Despite the cooperation, Schiff says their motives differ.
The counterintelligence investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, was prompted by Australian diplomat Alexander Downer informing the FBI that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told him Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election. That counterintelligence investigation is believed to have been wrapped into Mueller’s effort, which was unable to find sufficient evidence to issue charges of criminal conspiracy between members of the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Pointing to a specific page in Mueller’s report [Volume One, p. 13], Schiff said the “heart of why” he wants a briefings and the counterintelligence materials is to determine the distinctions between what was under the scope of Mueller’s investigation and went beyond it.
Schiff suggested he is most interested in finding out whether Trump hope to make money in Russia — specifically with the Trump Tower in Moscow plan that fell apart — which he acknowledged may not be a crime but would nevertheless be concerning for a candidate-turned-president.
“They’re at one time not necessarily a criminal activity and at the same time potentially far more serious than criminal activity because you have the capacity to warp U.S. policy owing to some form of compromise,” he said.
