White House staff told to preserve Russia-related materials

The 58-year-old stepped down after revelations that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.

That could be because the committee hasn’t actually tried to find evidence, as Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the committee’s top Democrat, rightly points out. What exactly are Trump’s past and present business ties to Russia and influential individual Russians?

Trump has denied having any knowledge that aides were in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election, as reported by The New York Times.

The congressional investigation, which will likely face long odds against a Republican majority, will seek to uncover what other cyber activity took place, what links there may have been between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign, and what leaks of classified information took place related to the intelligence community’s assessment.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi went a step further. Trump said on Monday that he hasn’t “called Russian Federation in 10 years”.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said at a CNN town hall with Sen.

According to the newspaper, some Obama White House officials asked specific questions in intelligence briefings because they knew the questions and answers would be documented and saved for future review.

“I think it’s our responsibility to provide you access to all that you need”, Coats said, adding that he believes Russia’s hacking and meddling in the United States and countries in Europe “needs to be investigated and addressed”.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Tuesday that at the least, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from the FBI’s probe of the matter.

If so, the Europeans were already aware of the possibility of Russian election-interference.

He also said he would adhere to U.S. laws banning torture and ending the use of secret offshore prisons to detain and interrogate terror suspects.

Justice officials said Sessions met with Kislyak on September 8 in his capacity as a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump campaign surrogate.

In further questioning from lawmakers Coats added, “I think it’s publicly known and acknowledged and accepted that Russian Federation definitely did try to influence the campaign”.

Sessions met Kislyak on the sidelines on the Republican National Convention in July, then in his office in September, the report said, citing Justice Department officials. Congress members should demand that. Never mind that senators meet with ambassadors all the time and for a number of reasons, including the Russian ambassador.

There remains no solid evidence to believe President Trump is being controlled by Russian Federation or is “Putin’s Puppet”, a talking point that initially emerged from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“The intelligence committee, just so you know, they’ve been doing an investigation for some time now”.

Reportedly, several members of the administration were intentionally leaving a trail so that the Trump administration couldn’t easily brush it under the rug. John McCain is known for taking a hard line against Moscow, said Wednesday night at a CNN town hall that Trump has a “blind spot” when it comes to Russian Federation, has launched one of the handful of congressional inquiries regarding Russian Federation. Flynn was forced to resign the following week.

CNN has reported that multiple sources say high-level Trump associates were in constant contact with Russians who were known to US intelligence. US intelligence officials also tracked Russian officials’ communications describing meetings with Trump associates.