The Senate Intelligence Committee will be able to review the raw intelligence relevant to its investigation into President Trump’s campaign and the Russian government this week.
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, said on CNN the committee’s investigation will be ramping up in the coming days.
“This week the Senate Intelligence Committee is getting access to the raw intelligence that’s relevant to this Russia investigation,” he said. “The big issue here, the issue I think President Trump is trying to distract us from, is whether or not there was collusion between the Trump campaign and [Russia during] our last presidential election.”
The Senate and House intelligence committees are investigating reports from the intelligence community that Russia ran an influence campaign on the American presidential election in favor of Trump. Some of those reports have indicated possible connections between some of Trump’s associates and the Russian government.
The investigations being done by the committees may yet take on a different aspect, as White House officials are calling for Trump’s claims that President Obama requested wiretaps of phones in Trump Tower before the election to be included in Congress’ investigations.
According to media reports, Obama’s administration attempted to get warrants to monitor Trump associates and their dealings with Russia. Trump tweeted over the weekend that Obama ordered illegal wiretaps of his phones, but has presented no evidence to back up that claim.
