House Intel Democrats start up the investigation machinery on Russia. GOP playtime is over

Democrats start up the investigation machinery. GOP playtime is over

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/9/1824742/-Democrats-start-up-the-investigation-machinery-GOP-play-time-is-over#read-more

?1527799678

On Tuesday, House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff revealed that the members of the committee hadn’t known that Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort traveled to Europe, met with a Russian operative, and provided the Russians with internal polling info from the Trump campaign. That this is just now leaking to the public is one thing, but that kind of information seems like something that should have surfaced during any serious investigation. And it seems like exactly the sort of thing that makes an even bigger mockery out of the “no collusion” report produced by former House Intelligence chair Devin Nunes.

But then Nunes never did an investigation. He presided over an un-vestigation: a desperate attempt to bury every bit of evidence, thwart every request for a document, block every subpeona, and attack the DOJ for fun and profit. Mostly profit.

Now that Nunes has been sidelined and Schiff is in charge, the House committee is cranking up — really, for the first time — a genuine investigation of the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia. And, as the New York Times reports, that investigation appears to be starting over almost from square one. The committee has sent out “dozens” of letters to members of Trump’s staff, both at the White House and at Trump Tower, finally requesting those documents that Nunes deliberately ignored. And they’ve begun lining up interviews with some of the more than two dozen witnesses whom they wanted to speak to before Republicans abruptly canned the un-vestigation and issued their one-sided report.

With the knowledge that they’re entering this game even as special counsel Robert Mueller appears to be working toward some big indictments, if not a final report, and acknowledging that the Senate has been slowly plodding forward even as Republicans put the House investigation on ice, Democrats are going to move very deliberately, looking directly into the original concerns: conspiracy between the Trump 2016 campaign and the Russian government, and obstruction of justice related to that conspiracy.

And they’re going to focus initially on two people whom Republicans on the committee were afraid to touch: Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

One of the first requests that have gone out is for Trump Jr.’s phone records. Schiff had requested these documents over a year ago, but Nunes consistently blocked any attempt to subpoena the information. This time, should the information not be swiftly provided, a subpoena will follow.

The purpose of looking at these records is to answer multiple questions about the Trump Tower meeting, which still shows every sign of being a pivotal moment in the connection between the Trump team and Russia. Trump Jr. made multiple calls on that day, including to Russian oligarch Emin Agalarov, but he also called a now-infamous blocked number. Suspicions have run high that the person on the other end of the latter call was Donald Trump. Schiff intends to find out.

More on the link--

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/9/1824742/-Democrats-start-up-the-investigation-machinery-GOP-play-time-is-over#read-more


.