As Democrats continue to push for meaningful investigation into just what exactly happened with Russian election interference, and, in particular, connections between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, the chair and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee have announced what that committee’s investigation will cover:
The scope of the Committee’s inquiry has included, and will continue to include:
- Russian cyber activity and other “active measures” directed against the U.S. and its allies;
- Counterintelligence concerns related to Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, including any intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns;
- The United States Government response to these Russian active measures and any impact they may have on intelligence relationships and traditional alliances; and
- Possible leaks of classified information related to the Intelligence Community’s assessments of these matters.
But Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s ranking Democrat, says it shouldn’t just be the House committee on the job:
… even an expanded House inquiry would not be sufficient; the best move would be to merge the House and Senate investigations, said Schiff.
“It doesn’t make much sense to have both committees doing the same investigation, calling the same witnesses, producing different reports,” he said. “I think that duplicates a lot of effort and wastes a lot of agency time, having witnesses testify the same thing multiple times.”
In addition to a joint investigation, Schiff also called for an independent commission.