The US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday to reauthorize dozens of subpoenas for Obama-era officials as part of a review of the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) The US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday to reauthorize dozens of subpoenas for Obama-era officials as part of a review of the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation.
The motion was approved 8 to 6 along party lines with the Democrats accusing the Republicans of distracting the Committee from more pressing matters and attempting to influence the voters' sentiment.
"This is a partisan fishing expedition," Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, said. "I'm disappointed that our Committee is once again meeting to discuss the authorization of subpoenas instead of the serious challenges facing Americans."
Peters claimed the Republicans' desire to reinvestigate the matter demonstrates an alarming partisan nature designed to influence the upcoming November presidential election.
The Committee reaffirmed the authorization to its Chairman Ron Johnson to issue subpoenas to about 40 Obama-era officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former US Ambassador Samantha Power.
The authorization was originally granted on June 4, but later hit procedural snags that required revoting. The vote also greenlights depositions of additional individuals, including former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr.
The Committee reaffirmed Johnson's authority to seek documents related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation - the counterintelligence probe conducted by the FBI in 2016 to reveal whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government leading up to the 2016 US election. The FBI's investigation was eventually taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller who acknowledged there was no Trump-Russia collusion.
Russia has repeatedly said it does not interfere in the US political system and the allegations of collusion were invented to excuse the election loss of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.
