Four men connected with President Trump’s campaign have been asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee to turn over all communications with Russian businesspeople and government officials, a significant step forward for the Senate’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties.
The letters, asking for emails, phone calls, texts, and information on meetings, were sent to informal Trump adviser Roger Stone, one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort, former national-security adviser Michael Flynn, and former campaign adviser Carter Page, the Times reports. Stone and Page confirmed to the paper that they received letters from the committee, while Manafort and Flynn declined to comment.
For his part, Stone says he is happy to talk to the investigators. “I am eager, indeed anxious, to testify in full public session, have requested no immunity and am ready to go,” said the longtime Republican operative who likes to dress funny.
But Page, who has said he’s eager to cooperate with the investigation to clear his name, suddenly has cold feet. The energy consultant, who was surveilled by the FBI last year because of his Kremlin connections, responded to the committee by calling the information it requested “irrelevant.” Page also said in the letter that his personal records of contacts with Russian interests would be “minuscule” compared to the data the FBI collected on him.
Committee chair Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, and ranking member Mark Warner, Democratic senator from Virginia, responded to Page in a statement Friday. The committee expects Page “to live up to his publicly-expressed cooperation with our effort,” the statement says. If he chooses not to, “the committee will consider its next steps at that time.”
If that sounds like a veiled subpoena threat, that’s because it is.
