Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday said he has “doubts” about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s ability to objectively investigate whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the election.
“FIrst, the intelligence committee is a congressional oversight and yes, I have some doubts about Chairman Burr. He first denied that they should even investigate, then when he was pushed by Mark Warner, he said ‘OK, we’ll investigate,'” Schumer told NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “And then, of course, at the administration’s request — he went to the press and said something was wrong. That’s taking sides in the investigation.”
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., has acknowledged speaking to reporters to dispute reports that there was constant interchange between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
The New York lawmaker said his “faith” is in Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who has been “holding Burr’s feet to the fire.”
Schumer also warned that President Trump “is in trouble” after tweeting on Saturday that the Obama administration wiretapped his campaign last October. He predicted Trump’s allegations will hurt his administration regardless of whether they are found to be true or false.
“If he falsely spread this kind of misinformation, that is so wrong. It’s beneath the dignity of the presidency … it shows this president doesn’t know how to conduct himself,” Schumer explained. “If it’s true, it’s even worse for the president because that means that a federal judge, independently elected, has found probable cause that the president, or people on his staff … have probable cause to have broken the law or to have interacted with a foreign agent.”
Schumer doubled down on a previous call for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former adviser to Trump’s campaign, to resign for testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had never met with a Russian official, when he did so twice last year. Sessions recused himself from any Justice Department investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“If we have a special prosecutor, they will get to the bottom of all of this. And that’s what we need,” Schumer said.
