Russia Investigation Update: Senators Briefed in Closed-door Session

The man currently in charge of the Justice Department's investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election briefed senators in a closed-door session in the Capitol. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has risen to the top of the investigation by default -- after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, and FBI director James Comey was fired by President Trump.

Trump says the Russia investigation is fake news, but Rosenstein's estimation contradicts that. Lawmakers say his briefing was productive, though they say there are currently more questions than answers about Russia's involvement.

Rosenstein has tapped former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead an independent investigation into whether people connected to the Trump campaign, like former national security advisor Michael Flynn, colluded with Russian officials during or after the election. But by tapping an independent prosecutor, some lawmakers argue it takes away power from the ongoing Senate investigation into the matter.

After the briefing, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters:

“It was a counterintelligence investigation before now. It seems to me now to be a criminal investigation. What does that mean for the Congress? I find it hard to subpoena records of somebody, like Mr. Flynn, who may be subject to a criminal investigation, because he has the right not to incriminate himself."

Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is leading the investigation in Congress, see things differently.

“This is simply in many ways a new boss for what was the existing investigation, so to my knowledge I don’t think we’re looking at radical change,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told reporters.

“It was important that a special prosecutor was named, but it doesn’t change the pace [of our investigation], it doesn’t change who we want to talk to, it doesn’t change any of the requests that we have outstanding.”

As for the closed door briefing, senators report it helped renew some faith in the investigation after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey who was leading the Russia probe. “There’s no big earth shattering headlines that came out of it, but I think people generally speaking would feel very confident in [Mueller] and his decision making process relative to the special counselor,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) told reporters after the meeting.

Lawmakers also say Rosenstein wouldn’t be as candid with lawmakers as he may have liked, but they say it’s understandable with the investigation ongoing. “He felt constrained by the integrity of the investigation not to answer all our questions,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said at the Capitol. “There’s a whole lot of questions out there and we don’t know what the investigation will bring forward.”

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-- Matt Laslo

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Creative Commons)