Congressional Republicans in charge of leading Capitol Hill's investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election are continuing to stymie efforts by Democrats to investigate alleged collusion, according to a new report in Politico.
Despite ousted Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon alleging money laundering in the blockbuster new book Fire and Fury, Republicans won't allow Democrats to follow the money.
Republican congressional leaders have refused to compel public testimony from Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. In addition to blocking public testimony, three Democratic lawmakers told Politico that Republicans "also have rejected closed-door interview sessions with several dozen witnesses."
Most shocking may be Republican efforts to block the investigation of financial documents, which could potentially show a quid pro quo arrangement.
"Those Democrats, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of California, also said Republicans have blocked their requests for financial documents from key players like Trump Jr., Kushner, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump himself," Politico reported.
Committee Democrats are also seeking records from Deutsche Bank.
“At the end of the day, we will have done the country a disservice if we conclude the investigation without doing a thorough job, and if we are willing to make an incomplete report to the American people, or worse, one that's inaccurate, and later have to explain when information comes to the surface why we didn't care enough to pursue it,” said Schiff, a former federal prosecutor.
“We need the committee to use the compulsory process, but the majority thus far has been unwilling to do so in most cases,” explained Swalwell, a former state prosecutor. “And that leaves some very important questions unanswered.”
“The fact that we have not had any kind of public visibility on ‘follow-the-money issues’ is a very significant deficiency of the inquiry,” Wyden said. “I think Jared Kushner ought to be back answering questions in public. I think Donald Trump Jr. should be back answering questions in public, and we would obviously coordinate with Mueller on that.”