Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican majority’s whip, said Sunday that President Trump’s ties to Russia are a legitimate part of the Senate’s investigation into Russian interference in last year’s presidential elections.
Cornyn told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that the Senate Intelligence Committee’s ongoing work is a “legitimate area of inquiry,” including its examination of possible collusion between Trump officials and the Russian government.
The Texas senator was responding to a question about President Trump’s latest tweet that the media’s coverage of his ties to Russia amounted to nothing more than a witch hunt.
Cornyn said the investigation is meant to “understand the extent to which Russia has attempted to influence and interfere in our elections and to undermine our democracy.” The investigation will also look into “unprecedented and perhaps illegal leaks of classified information,” Cornyn said.
“We are doing a bipartisan investigation. … We’re trying to avoid the distractions outside the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation,” Cornyn said, suggesting Trump’s tweeting was one of those distractions the panel is trying to avoid.
“We are well underway, getting unprecedented access to raw intelligence from the intelligence community to get to the bottom of this,” he said.
