2016 ELECTION/DEMS/GOP/HOUSE OF REPS/INTELLIGENCE/RUSSIA: “Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday [3-13-18] that they are drafting their own report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, ending any chance of reaching a bipartisan conclusion with Republicans on the panel.
Democrats released a memo on Tuesday evening arguing that the Republican-led investigation is being prematurely shut down with many questions remaining unanswered. The document identifies nearly 30 additional witnesses that Democrats say should be called, 20 organizations that should be asked to turn over documents as well a number of areas of inquiry they say haven’t been adequately addressed.
Republicans on the panel announced Monday they had finished interviewing witnesses, had produced a draft of their conclusions and are moving to wind down the probe. Since the beginning of the investigation, leaders in both parties have said they wanted to produce a bipartisan report—something that became increasingly unlikely as relations on the panel deteriorated… The findings of the Republican report, which won’t be released for months, are also at odds with parts of a January 2017 report by the U.S. intelligence community, which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Mr. Trump’s favor.”
-Byron Tau, “Democrats on House Panel Plan Their Own Russia Report,” The Wall Street Journal online, Mar. 13, 2018 08:46pm