House Intelligence Committee to vote Friday on releasing dozens of Russia probe transcripts

The House Intelligence Committee will vote Friday on publicly releasing a slew of transcripts of closed-door interviews from its now closed investigation into Russian interference, including those with high-profile members of President Trump’s campaign.

Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has scheduled a business meeting for 9 a.m. for the committee to vote on releasing the documents.

The documents include transcripts of interviews with prominent members of the Trump campaign and the president’s family, including Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., as well as those with Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone.

{mosads}They also include transcripts of interviews with officials from former President Barack Obama’s administration, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

The House panel’s investigation began early last year and quickly devolved into partisan infighting, resulting in the panel ending its probe in a party-line vote in March of this year. The Republican majority subsequently released a report finding no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Democrats, however, argued that Republicans ended the investigation prematurely.

Nunes said earlier this month that he planned to release the documents before the November midterm elections, after Democrats on the committee had clamored for their release.

“We believe that the depositions that we took, I think nearly about 70 people, those need to be published and they need to be published I think before the election,” Nunes said on Fox News on Sept. 16.

The interview transcripts — 53 in all — would first go through a declassification review by the Office of Director of National Intelligence, should the committee vote in favor of their release. It is unclear how long that process would take.