Greg Sargent, in The Washington Post, explains how House Intelligence Committee Democrats, increasingly frustrated with Republicans' apparent determination to undermine the Russia investigation, could publicize all the ways in which they've been challenged by committee leadership.
In an interview with me, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut — the No. 2 Democrat on the House intel committee — said that Democrats are seriously exploring the possibility of issuing a minority report that details (among other things) the degree to which Republicans tried to impede a full investigation, should that end up happening. In this scenario, the public would at least have a clear sense of just how far Republicans went to protect President Trump and his top officials from accountability.
“It’s in both the Democrats’ and the Republicans’ interests to … write a report based on a common set of facts,” Himes told me. “It would be a tragedy if the report has a minority section that says, ‘Look, we wanted to talk to these two dozen witnesses and weren’t able to do so.'”
Sargent also reports Democrats want to meet with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump Jr. again to ask more specific questions.
Himes confirmed to me that Democrats want to call Trump Jr. and Sessions back in to ask whether [George] Papadoupoulos communicated to top campaign officials the existence of this Russian dirt on Clinton, and whether that is related to the June 2016 meeting to get said dirt from the Russian government. But it looks unlikely that Republicans will agree, and Himes said that if Republicans do end up frustrating a full inquiry more generally — and keep pushing the narrative of a deep-state coup against Trump — Democrats may issue a minority report detailing what Republicans really did here.
Full read: Opinion: How bad is the Republican coverup on Trump and Russia? We may soon find out. (WaPo)