Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sent letters to several Trump campaign foreign policy advisors asking for more information about contacts they had with Russian entities before and during the 2016 campaign.
Business Insider notes some of these advisors are people whose names are coming up for the first time:
One of them is Paul Erickson, a longtime Republican activist who told associates that he was an adviser to Trump's transition team. He reportedly started a business — a limited liability company called Bridges, LLC — with Russian gun-rights champion Maria Butina. Erickson traveled to Moscow in August 2014 to meet with Butina's gun-rights organization.
Butina and her associate Aleksander Torshin, a Russian politician and banker close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, are also of interest to the committee. Torshin asked the campaign through an intermediary whether Trump would meet with him on the sidelines of the NRA convention last summer, according to emails forwarded to Trump's son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner.
Feinstein asked both campaign national co-chair Sam Clovis and campaign national security adviser JD Gordon for their communications with or concerning "the NRA, Paul Erickson, Alexander Torshin, Maria Butina," and others associated with Torshin's outreach.
Senator Feinstein also wants additional documents from Carter Page who testified before the House Intelligence Committee on November 2nd:
In her letter to Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, Feinstein asked for "all communications to, from, or copied to you with or concerning" Russian political scientist and Putin foreign policy adviser Sergey Karaganov; Randi Levinas, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the US-Russia Business Council; and Bernie Sucher, a former managing director and head of global markets for Russia at the wealth management firm Merril Lynch.
(...)
Feinstein also asked Page for his communications with or concerning Alfa Group, which reportedly came under scrutiny by both federal and congressional investigators after a computer server for the Russia-based Alfa Bank "repeatedly looked up the contact information for a computer server being used by the Trump Organization — far more than other companies did, representing 80% of all look-ups on the Trump server," according to CNN.
Feinstein's letter to Page asks him to turn over the requested materials by December 12, 2017.
Full story: A top senator just introduced a slew of new names into the Senate's Russia probe (Business Insider)
The Tale of Alexander Torshin (CIR)
Feinstein Sends New Tranche of Request Letters Related to Russia Investigation (press release)
Letter to Carter Page requests documents related to his trips to Russia and communications with Russian officials and members of the Trump campaign
Letter to Sam Clovis asks for an interview and documents related to the campaign’s Russian contacts and efforts to obtain hacked emails.
Letter to Walid Phares asks for an interview and for documents related to Russian contacts and the Republican Party’s position on Ukraine.
Letter to J.D. Gordon asks for an interview and documents related to Russian contacts and the Republican Party’s position on Ukraine.