US senator, former attorney general may be called to testify on Russian election interference allegations

ANKARA

The chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee has said former Attorney General Merrick Garland and Senator Adam Schiff may be called to testify about leaked intelligence connected to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Speaking in a Tuesday television appearance, Jim Jordan said, referring to the FBI’s official report summarizing a witness interview: “Yeah, I would like to probably talk to the individual who did the 302 … We just got this information. We're just digging through it.”

The remarks came after FBI interview records, published by website Just the News, indicated that a longtime Democratic staffer of the House Intelligence Committee repeatedly warned the FBI beginning in 2017 that Schiff had approved leaking classified information to damage President Donald Trump, then in his first term.

"In my mind, I always say everything's on the table," Jordan said. "The American people deserve the truth. People who did real wrongdoing should be held accountable. So, we'll evaluate all that."

Jordan criticized the Justice Department for not pursuing the allegations and said former FBI Director Chris Wray never shared this information with Congress. He credited current FBI Director Kash Patel for bringing it forward and said the committee will consult legal counsel on how to proceed, including whether the speech and debate clause applies.

"I think the first step is for us to consult with our lawyers on House Counsel ... right on speech and debate (and) how that would apply, and with the facts of this situation here," he said.

Jordan emphasized that the public deserves the truth, wrongdoing should be punished, and whistleblowers should be protected from retaliation.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi directed staff on Aug. 5 to open a grand jury investigation into allegations put forward by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that former officials sought to link Trump to Russia.

The Justice Department confirmed last month that it had received a criminal referral from Gabbard. The announcement came after the intelligence chief accused former US President Barack Obama of having "directed" the manipulation of intelligence that suggested Russia sought to intervene in the 2016 presidential election on Trump's behalf.

"There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard told reporters at the White House on July 23.

"They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn't," she added.

Trump also accused Obama, the focus of much of Trump's ire during his first term, of orchestrating a "coup" against him, urging authorities to “go after” his predecessor.

"The witch hunt that you should be talking about is (that) they caught President Obama," he said. "What they did to this country ... starting in 2016 but ... going up to 2020 ... they tried to rig the election, and they got caught, and there should be very severe consequences for that."

Obama's office called Trump's claims “bizarre … outrageous” and a "ridiculous and weak attempt at distraction." The former president rejected claims that he had manipulated US intelligence.

The accusations of wrongdoing by Obama were made as Trump found himself in a firestorm over the Justice Department's refusal to release documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US intelligence community concluded in 2017 that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election that sought to "undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton (Trump’s electoral opponent), and harm her electability and potential presidency." A bipartisan congressional committee, led by then-Senator Marco Rubio, now secretary of state, confirmed those conclusions.