Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 5 OcTOber 2017
Trump-Russia collusion? Still investigating, senators say

Warner said that the com- official take this very seri-
mittee has interviewed ously,” Burr said.The news
more than 100 witnesses, conference Wednesday
including former Trump was an effort by the com-
campaign chairman Paul mittee to lay out some of
Manafort and Trump son- what’s been found so far
in-law Jared Kushner. as the 2018 midterm elec-
More than 100,000 pages tions approach. Burr said
of documents have been that the committee would
reviewed.But the commit- ideally finish the investiga-
tee has still yet to interview tion before congressional
some witnesses related to primaries begin next spring,
the Trump campaign and but said he couldn’t put a
a June 2016 meeting that firm deadline on the probe
Kushner, Manafort and because they are always
the president’s son, Don- finding new lines of inquiry.
ald Trump Jr., held with Warner said there is a “large
Russians. The committee consensus” that Russians
wants to interview Trump had hacked into political
Jr. and everyone else in- files and strategically re-
volved with the meeting. leased them with the goal
The lawmakers said that of influencing the election.
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., right, with Vice Chair- though they have reached He said Russian hackers
man Mark Warner, D-Va., left, updates reporters on the status of their inquiry into Russian interfer- no conclusion about had also tested the vulner-
ence in the 2016 U.S. elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017. Burr says whether the campaign abilities of election systems
the committee has interviewed more than 100 witnesses as part of its investigation and that more
work still needs to be done. colluded with the Krem- in 21 states, though there’s
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) lin — the question also at no evidence that any vot-
the heart of a separate ing tallies were altered.
By MARY JALONICK sway the 2016 presiden- tion that was launched criminal investigation by The Senate panel has also
ERIC TUCKER tial election.“The issue of the same month as Presi- special counsel Robert been focused on Russian
WASHINGTON (AP) — collusion is still open,” said dent Donald Trump was Mueller — their investi- efforts to push out social
Leaders of the Senate in- the Republican commit- inaugurated.“The commit- gation has left no doubt media messages on Twit-
telligence committee said tee chairman, North Caro- tee continues to look at about a multi-pronged ter and Facebook, and
Wednesday that they have lina Sen. Richard Burr, who all evidence to see if there Russian effort to meddle in is examining more than
not determined roughly along with the panel’s top was any hint of collusion,” American politics.“The Rus- 3,000 Russia-linked ads that
nine months into their in- Democrat, Virginia Sen. Burr said, adding that “I am sian intelligence service is Facebook turned over to
vestigation whether Rus- Mark Warner, provided not going to even discuss determined, clever and I Congress this week. Burr
sia coordinated with the the first major update on initial findings, because recommend every cam- said he does not intend to
Trump campaign to try to a congressional investiga- we haven’t any.”Burr and paign and every election release those ads.
Facebook has said the ads
focused on divisive social
and political messages,
including LGBT issues, im-
migration and gun rights,
and were seen by an es-
timated 10 million people
before and after the 2016
election.The Senate panel,
along with the House intel-
ligence committee, has
invited Facebook, Twitter
and Google to testify at a
public hearing next month.
Facebook said Wednes-
day that it had accept-
ed invitations from both
committees, and Twitter
confirmed it would testify
before the Senate panel.
One witness the lawmakers
say they’ve been unable
to question is Christopher
Steele, a former British spy
believed to have com-
piled a dossier of allega-
tions about Trump connec-
tions to Russia. Burr said the
committee “has hit a wall”
in its requests to interview
Steele as he has not ac-
cepted offers to meet with
staff or with Burr and War-
ner personally.q