With Congress reconvening after the August recess, the investigations into Russia's election interference will soon pick up the pace as members of the Trump campaign prepare for closed-door interviews before both intelligence committees. Even congressional officials suspect that leaks and news about the investigations will intensify.
It will be a busy fall on the Hill, CNN reported, with three congressional committees vying for information and witnesses. Despite their determination to uncover what happened during the 2016 elections, there has been little synergy and communication between three relevant committees. The committees have become annoyed when their counterparts have scheduled interviews that they themselves were trying to arrange, Politico reported.
"They're doing their thing and we're doing our thing," a Senate aide told the site.
The special counsel's probe into the matter, headed by Robert Mueller, has only added to Congress' complications. After Paul Manafort met privately with the Senate intelligence committee in July, Mueller struggled to see the transcript because Manafort's attorneys said that he was not authorized to obtain them. According to CNN, Mueller's team pulled a roundabout by telling a committee staffer that they were allowed to see the transcript, which later enraged Manafort's attorneys and resulted in a standoff between the special counsel and the committee that has temporarily frozen any transfer of information and documents.
Mueller's team, for their part, has not exactly been forthcoming with information it has obtained, CNN reported. While Mueller has allowed congressional investigators to look at memos, he has forbidden them from taking notes or getting copies.
The three congressional committees have their own documents they have to pour through. The Trump campaign has produced over 20,000 pages of documents about Russia, CNN reported, which the committees have read over the August recess. One area of interest, according to CNN, involves Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Trump business partner Felix Sater.
"It's A-level interest," one House source told CNN, referring to the Trump Tower project in Moscow.
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