The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed that they couldn’t rule out a connection between Trump’s campaign and Russia. This came barely 24 hours after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted that there was no possible link between Trump’s team and Russia. Donald Trump and his campaign team are subject of an ongoing investigation that aims to establish whether members of the campaign colluded with Russian operatives to influence the November 4th election last year.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that it was still early in the investigation for the committee to authoritatively tell whether there was any collusion or not. Senator Burr also expressed caution at this stage saying that it would be best to refrain from forming any opinions before the investigation is finally over. In a press conference on Tuesday, the Press Secretary at the White House Sean Spicer remained defiant on the possible ties between members of the Trump campaign and Russia.
Responding to a question from journalist April Ryan of the Urban Radio Networks, Spicer remained clear that based on the briefing they have received on the investigation, there was no possible link between Trump and his team with Russia. Sen. Burr who was also a key adviser for the Trump campaign on national security made it clear that the investigation was being conducted in an impartial manner and eventually the truth will come out. The Senator told reporters that even though he voted for Trump, his responsibilities in the Senate committee were crucial and far outweighed any form of personal beliefs or loyalties that he may have had in the past or at the moment.
Burr was confident that the Senate Intelligence Committee was capable of conducting an effective investigation. The news also comes amidst a divide in the House Intelligence Committee that has been investigating wiretapping claims made by Trump on Twitter a few weeks ago. Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and Rep Adam Schiff on Friday held press conferences to update the country on the status of the investigation.
The House Intelligence Committee appeared divided on investigations on Trump’s wiretapping claims and links between Trump’s campaign and Russia with Nunes having been quoted earlier saying that there could have been some possible surveillance on Trump Tower during the election. The claim was, however, dismissed by the House Intelligence Committee noting in the process that at no point in the investigation was there a consensus on Nunes utterances.
There have also been calls on Rep. Devin Nunes to recuse himself from the committee due to glaring cases of conflict. Despite all this fuss, there is no doubt the investigation on possible connections between Trump’s campaign and Russia will continue. Whether the investigation will be fruitful or not remains to be seen but it’s certainly a dark cloud that continues to hang over Donald Trump’s already fragile presidency.
