Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has volunteered to testify before the House Intelligence Committee, the committee’s chairman told reporters Friday.
The testimony comes amid the panel’s investigation into Russian election interference. The probe includes the leaks that precipitated the resignation of former national security adviser Mike Flynn as well as contacts between Trump campaign associates and the Kremlin, top concerns for Republican and Democratic members, respectively.
“The counsel for Paul Manafort contacted the committee yesterday to offer the committee the opportunity to interview his client,” committee chairman Devin Nunes said.
He did not know whether the interview would occur in a closed or open session.
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, said he was open to as much of the testimony as possible occurring in public.
“We welcome his testimony before the committee,” he said. “We would also welcome that that testimony be done in open session.”
FBI director James Comey publicly announced during a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee Monday that his agency has been conducting a Russia investigation since July. The probe includes possible coordination between Trump team members and Russia.
An Associated Press report published Wednesday alleged that Manafort worked for a Russian oligarch for years to promote Russian president Vladimir Putin’s interests. Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign in August amid controversy over his ties to pro-Putin officials in Ukraine.
The White House has repeatedly denied a New York Times report that Manafort and other Trump team members engaged in contacts with Russian intelligence officials during the presidential campaign.
Nunes has also said that he has seen no evidence of collusion between Trump associates and Russia. Democrats on the intelligence committee have alleged that they have seen “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion.
The committee will also call Comey and NSA director Admiral Mike Rogers for additional testimony in a closed setting, Nunes said.
“The committee seeks additional information from Monday’s hearing that can only be addressed in closed session,” he told reporters.
Nunes said that the request does not have to do with controversial intelligence community reports that he has seen.
The chairman said Wednesday that the reports included details about Trump transition members despite these details having “little or no apparent foreign intelligence value.”
The reports were based on pre-inaugural communications that were “incidentally collected,” or swept up during legal surveillance of a foreign target. It is unclear whether the communications directly involved a Trump associate, or whether they featured two foreign individuals discussing a Trump associate. The intercepts were not Russia-related, Nunes said.
Nunes also said additional Trump transition team members’ names were “unmasked” or revealed in these reports without apparent reason. U.S. persons’ names are often redacted in such reports and only revealed under certain circumstances.
The top Democrat on the committee Adam Schiff disputed Nunes’ remarks later on Wednesday.
“Most of the names in the intercepts were in fact masked, and the chairman’s concern was that he could still figure out the identities of some of the parties even though the names were masked,” Schiff told reporters. “Well, that doesn’t mean that the masking was improper.”
The chairman said Friday that Manafort’s name did not appear in the reports that he has viewed.
