The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of potential collusion between Trump advisers and the Russian government should conclude sometime this fall, says Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican member of the intelligence panel.
“My hope is that sometime in the September timeframe we’ll have a chance to wrap up our investigation on the intelligence committee. These things do have a way of dragging on longer and longer, sometimes because they’re politically controversial as well,” Cornyn said in an interview with WFAA, a Dallas television station.
“I think we ought to be able to wrap it up sometime this Fall,” he continued.
Senate Intelligence Committee should complete its investigation of Russia and @realdonaldtrump by September, says Sen. @JohnCornyn. pic.twitter.com/LrIUUtscHe
— Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) June 4, 2017
The committee is conducting a parallel investigation to the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling in the presidential campaign. The sprawling investigations focus on Russian cyber attacks as well as whether any members of the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin to influence the outcome of the election.
The Senate committee, as well as its counterpart in the House, are also investigating whether members of the Obama administration illegally leaked information about the federal investigation.
So far there has been no direct evidence that Trump or anyone from his campaign cooperated with Russian agents to influence the election. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday that he has not seen explicit evidence of collusion.
“We have no smoking gun at this point. But there is a lot of smoke,” Warner said in an interview on CNN.
There has been no indication of how long the FBI investigation of Trump-Russia collusion will last. The probe is being overseen by former FBI Director Robert Mueller. He was appointed special counsel last month by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Mueller appears to be conducting an expansive investigation, recent news reports indicate. On Friday it was reported that he is looking into former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government. He is also investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s business activities.
