26 May, 2017
The committee is conducting one of the main congressional probes into USA intelligence agency reports of Russian meddling in the election and whether there was collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia. Committee leaders are directing the new subpoenas at his businesses, believing they can't plead the Fifth. The Senate committee responded with two additional subpoenas on Tuesday targeting Flynn's businesses.
The nation's intelligence director says he won't comment on a news report that President Donald Trump asked him to publicly deny any collusion between his campaign and Russian Federation.
The FBI and the oversight committee - as well as several other congressional panels - are looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. Brennan said that concerned him, "because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals", and that it raised questions about whether or not the Russians "were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals".
On CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer", Schiff said the House committee would mirror its Senate counterpart by issuing more specific subpoenas that Flynn would have a harder time avoiding with the protection of the Fifth Amendment.
Schiff said the congressional investigations were vital because the FBI's probe wouldn't be public beyond possible indictments.
Kushner, a key White House adviser, had meetings late a year ago with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov.
"The Fifth Amendment right not to provide materials or documents is limited", Schiff said at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor in Washington.
And 55% say they believe Comey when he claims that Trump asked him to drop the investigation of his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, which Comey said in memos happened during private conversations with the President.
Any deal involving immunity would require discussion with Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed last week to oversee the criminal investigation into Russia's meddling in last year's US presidential election.
He says that last summer he was increasingly concerned that Russian officials were perhaps trying to enlist the cooperation of people in the Trump campaign.
He said he personally warned the Russians in August to stop interfering in the USA democratic process, telling a senior Russian security official that continued meddling would backfire and prevent any warming of relations after the election.
On another question, Brennan criticized President Trump's reported sharing of classified intelligence with Russian Federation officials.
He said the Russian official denied such interference but also said he would relay the concern to President Vladimir Putin.
A majority of Americans believe that President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey to deter that agency from investigating Trump's ties to Russian Federation, according to a new poll released Wednesday. Trump associates Paul Manafort and Roger Stone have provided the committee with information, while former campaign adviser Carter Page has not.
Brennan's testimony before the House intelligence committee on Tuesday comes one day after Flynn invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination in response to a subpoena from the Senate intelligence committee. Trump fired Comey May 9 amid questions about the FBI's investigation, which is now being overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director.
