Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, says Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) are trying to end the committee's Russia investigation prematurely and lays out specifics to bolster his allegations.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said committee Republicans had blocked Democrats’ efforts to subpoena Deutsche Bank for financial records related to President Trump’s family on the suspicion that Russians “may have laundered money through Trump properties.” Democrats also were stymied in their effort to subpoena executives at Twitter, Schiff said, to secure the direct messages that members of Trump’s inner circle exchanged with representatives of WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, who Democrats believe acted as Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Schiff complained that Republicans were unwilling to press those members of the Trump team who participated in a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower for a complete record of their communications over email, telephone and encrypted applications ...
According to two people with knowledge of the materials, the phone records Trump Jr. turned over to the panel were heavily redacted. Schiff added that GOP leaders refused to seek testimony from additional witnesses with knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting, including Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and the president’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump.
(...)
Schiff said Thursday that the committee has interviewed 56 witnesses — half the number of people that have appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Schiff said, meaning there are “dozens” of witnesses they have yet to bring in.
(...)
Schiff also said that he would hold Ryan responsible if the House probe “is prematurely curtailed for political reasons.”
Read more: Schiff lays out Republican efforts to block access in Russia probe (WaPo)