House Intel battling over release of transcripts for Russia probe

Republicans and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are battling over whether to release transcripts of their interviews now that the panel’s yearlong investigation into Russian interference is ending.

Both sides initially agreed that transcripts of interviews with 73 witnesses would be released, but some GOP lawmakers are now saying that making some of the interviews public could make it harder to compel witnesses to appear for future investigations. 

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The panel’s top Republican says it may not be possible to release all the transcripts.

“We may not be able to do that, turns out,” Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) told Bloomberg News on Monday night.

He said the panel would seek to release as much as it could.

“We are going to try to get as much of it in the public arena as we can so folks can make up their own minds,” he said Monday.

The comments still represent a shift from earlier this month, when he told reporters he would “absolutely” support a transcript release.

Democrats say all the transcripts should be released once the intelligence community combs through them and blacks out classified information.

“The majority has said they support making these transcripts public. We will put to the test of whether they really do,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said during a news conference on Tuesday.

He said Democrats intended to release all the transcripts related to their own report on the investigation. But it’s unclear if they can do that without the GOP’s blessing.

Schiff claims releasing transcripts will show that Republicans tossed softball questions to key witnesses.

“You will see in those transcripts often what the majority called an investigation was merely asking, ‘Did you conspire with the Russians? Did you coordinate with the Russians? Did you collude with the Russians?’ And when the answer was ‘no,’ they were content that was the end of the story,” he said.

It could take some time for intelligence officials to review the documents.

Democrats on the committee already faced a tedious weeks-long process of declassifying information last month when they sought to release their 10-page rebuttal of a memo produced by Republicans on the panel claiming the misuse by federal authorities of surveillance powers.

The fight raised already high tensions among the panel members.

Republicans and Democrats are now expected to issue separate reports on the investigation.

Conaway and the majority say they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin — a claim Democrats fiercely dispute.

Schiff said Tuesday that there is “sufficient evidence” to suggest collusion, accusing Republicans of cherry-picking facts.

The GOP also said their findings largely fall in line with the intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow sought to sow discord in U.S. affairs, though they rejected the conclusion that the Kremlin sought to help the Trump campaign.