Democrats Block Witness Testimonies in House Intel Probe

Bryan Michalek | June 22, 2017
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The House Intelligence Committee’s Democrats are blocking testimonies from about a dozen witnesses, all sought out to speak before the oversight panel that's investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Intelligence Committee was set to interview 10 witnesses this month, but because of top Democrat Adam Schiff’s objections, according to two Politico sources, the interviews have been put on hold. Another source told Politico that the panel wasn’t yet ready to conduct the hearings, claiming that many of the witnesses haven’t yet released all of the requested documents.

The third source also claimed that Schiff had gotten Mike Conaway (R-Tex.), who had taken the place of former investigator Devin Nunes, to agree to halt the conducting interviews until all requested documents were retrieved. Interviewees include former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and Roger Stone, a confidant of candidate Trump. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was also set to be interviewed.

The stalled interviews come amid an eagerness among the witnesses to be interviewed, which adds gasoline to the flame. In a letter sent to the committee two weeks ago, Page said he was eager to get on with his interview.

Her wrote in the letter, “I have learned from your committee staff on this Memorial Day holiday that I might not be immediately afforded the opportunity to address the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan, et al. as per our previously scheduled appointment for next week.”

It continued, “In the interest of finally providing the American people with some accurate information at long last, I hope that we can proceed with this straight dialogue soon.”

Stone has come out saying that the House Intelligence panel has offered him a platform to testify privately with two members of each party present, but has come out demanding a session to be held in public before the entire committee and faulted them for their inability to streamline the process.

This disruption is a stark contrast to the Senate Intelligence panel, which has been able to come together on the investigation relatively better than their house counterparts.

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