Top House Intel Dem pledges to move forward with Russia investigation

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) pledged on Thursday that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee would continue to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election, after the panel’s Republican members abruptly wrapped up the probe this week.

Schiff said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day” that special counsel Robert Mueller, who is conducting the law enforcement investigation into Russian meddling, is not responsible for publicly explaining Moscow’s election interference. That duty, Schiff said, falls on Congress.

“We can’t simply rely on Bob Mueller, because his job is different than ours,” Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat, said. “His job is to determine who broke the law and who should be prosecuted and who should go to jail.”

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“It’s not his job to tell the country what happened. And outside of an indictment, he may not be able to speak,” Schiff added. “That’s what the Congress is supposed to do. So there’s no substitute for Congress doing its job.”

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Monday concluded their investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election and whether members of the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow to help influence the race.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), the Republican leading the investigation, said that the panel agreed with the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia meddled in the election, but ultimately disagreed with the conclusion that Moscow favored President Trump in the race.

Democrats on the committee blasted the GOP decision to end the probe, accusing Republicans of trying to protect Trump from possible scrutiny.