Senate panel asks Trump aides for details on Russia contact
The Senate Intelligence Committee is asking President Trump’s former campaign aides for information on any contact they might have had with Russian officials as part of the panel’s probe into Moscow’s election interference.
Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent letters to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign advisers Roger Stone and Carter Page, according to multiple reports.
The letters ask for the men to list any meetings they might have had between June 16, 2015 — the day Trump formally launched his campaign — and his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, with Russian officials, as well as records of any communications during the same period.
“For each meeting listed, please include the date, location, all individuals present, and complete copies of any notes taken by you or on your behalf,” the two senators wrote in a letter to Page dated April 28 and obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
{mosads}The senators also want details on any financial assets or real estate holding tied to Russia, and a broader list of meetings between any Trump campaign aides and Russians.
Spokeswomen for Burr and Warner declined to comment on the letters.
But Burr and Warner issued a joint statement Friday acknowledging that they sent Page a letter “to provide requested materials to the Committee by certain dates.”
“Should Mr. Page choose to not provide the material requested by those dates, the Committee will consider its next steps at that time,” they added in a joint statement.
The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that Page responded to the committee’s letter Thursday arguing the U.S. government already had many of the communications the committee is requesting.
“But please note that any records I may have saved as a private citizen with limited technology capabilities will be miniscule in comparison to the full database of information which has already been collected under the direction of the Obama Administration during last year’s completely unjustified FISA warrant,” Page wrote in his response.
Burr and Warner pushed back in their statement, saying Page must “live up to his publicly-expressed cooperation with our effort.”
“Mr. Page must supply the requested documents to the Committee. As our letter indicated, the requested documents must be provided in advance of any interviews the Committee may conduct,” they said.
Stone separately told The New York Times that he would follow the committee’s request: I am “eager, indeed anxious, to testify in full public session, have requested no immunity and am ready to go,” he said.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is currently probing Russia’s interference in the presidential election and any ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow. All four men have denied helping Russia influence the election.
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