Sen. Mark Warner is calling for a completely independent investigation into Russian connections with President Trump and his associates after a report showed the White House had called members of Congress to help shoot down stories.
Warner, D-Va., said in the statement late Friday that Sen. Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, needs to ensure political interests don’t interfere in the investigation.
The Washington Post reported Friday the White House called Burr to help shoot down stories published recently about contacts between Trump’s associates and the Russians. Burr told the Post that he had spoken with news organizations to dispute stories in the New York Times and CNN that showed Trump campaign officials were in contact frequently with Russian spies.
That contact between Burr and the White House, and Burr’s willingness to act on the White House’s request, raises questions on the committee’s investigation into the matter, Warner said.
“I have called (CIA) Director (Mike) Pompeo and Chairman Burr to express my grave concerns about what this means for the independence of this investigation and a bipartisan commitment to follow the facts, and to reinforce that I will not accept any process that is undermined by political interference,” Warner said.
“It will be up to Republican leadership to demonstrate in the days ahead that they are capable of pursuing this investigation ‘wherever it leads,'” he added.
Burr defended himself to the Post, saying he believed it was appropriate to push back on the reports because it “didn’t breach my responsibilities to the committee in an ongoing investigation.”
