Senate panel vows full investigation of Trump’s Russia ties as House probe flails

WASHINGTON — Senators leading the investigation into Russian interference in the November election pledged on Wednesday to conduct an aggressive inquiry, including an examination of any ties to President Donald Trump, as they sought to distance themselves from the flagging efforts in the House.

In a conspicuous show of bipartisanship during a fractious time at the Capitol, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee vowed to forge ahead by interviewing key players connected to Trump and pressing intelligence agencies to provide all relevant information.

But their display of collegiality seemed intended primarily as a contrast to the explosive and often bewildering statements in recent days from the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, whose perceived closeness with the Trump White House has raised doubts about his ability to conduct an impartial investigation.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C. and a supporter of Trump during the campaign, suggested on Wednesday that he would not retreat from a process that could damage the reputation of a Republican president.

"This investigation's scope will go wherever the intelligence leads," Burr said during a rare joint news conference.

Asked later whether he had encountered any "direct links" between Trump and Russia's interference, Burr was stern.

"We know that our challenge," he said, "is to answer that question for the American people."

The Senate investigation amounts to a credibility test for Republicans under the Trump administration — a chance to prove their willingness to ask uncomfortable questions of a Republican president, even if the answers might weaken his and the party's standing.

Democrats are skeptical. But they are also mindful that the Senate most likely remains their best hope on Capitol Hill for gathering information, making them disinclined to abandon the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation. The FBI is also investigating.

On Wednesday, Burr and his Democratic counterpart on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, offered some evidence of what they had reviewed so far, saying they had begun to schedule the first of at least 20 interviews.

The congressional investigations are not related, but their focuses overlap, leaving the Senate panel to defend itself in the face of Nunes' assorted claims. While a vast majority of Republicans in the House have stood by Nunes amid calls for him to recuse himself, his furtive maneuvering — including bypassing his committee to brief the White House about relevant intelligence — has placed House committee members in a difficult spot.

And at least one Republican lawmaker, Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, suggested on Wednesday that the Senate should take the lead on Congress' investigation into ties between the president's orbit and Russia.

The Senate majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has long resisted calls for a special prosecutor or select committee, saying the Senate could do the job through regular protocol.

On the House side, a string of perplexing decisions by Nunes has threatened to unravel the panel's investigation altogether. Last week, he abruptly announced that he had obtained information indicating that people associated with the Trump transition may have been "incidentally" caught up in legal surveillance of foreign operatives. He also bypassed the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, to brief Trump.

The president seized on the information, misleadingly, as evidence for his thoroughly debunked claim that President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower — an allegation dismissed by not only senior law enforcement officials, like the FBI director, James B. Comey, but also by the heads of the Senate and House investigations, including Nunes.

Another obstacle to bipartisanship came on Monday, with the revelation that Nunes had viewed what he characterized as "dozens" of reports containing classified information on the grounds of the White House.

Democrats fumed, their suspicions fueled by speculation that the source of Nunes' information was a Trump administration official and that Nunes may have even coordinated with the White House. While Nunes defended himself by saying that he needed to be at the White House to view the sensitive documents in question, one can peruse sensitive information at the Capitol and at other spots around Washington.

Democrats have also chafed at Nunes' shuffling of the hearing schedule. Earlier this month, with Schiff by his side, Nunes announced plans for three former officials to testify, a group that would include Sally Q. Yates, who briefly served as acting attorney general and alerted the administration that Michael T. Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, appeared to have lied about his contact with Russian officials.

Last week, Nunes scrapped that public hearing, arguing that the committee first needed to question intelligence leaders. But on Tuesday he said this hearing had been postponed as well — as The Washington Post reported that White House officials had tried to stymie Yates' testimony. Democrats have accused Nunes of trying to stall not only the investigation but also the committee as a whole.

Warner said on Wednesday that he would "like to see Ms. Yates at some point" before his committee.

At the same time, the Senate investigation has not been blemish-free. Last month, Warner publicly scolded Burr after reports that Burr had spoken with the White House and engaged with news organizations to dispute reports that Trump associates had been in consistent contact with Russian intelligence operatives.

In an emailed statement on Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, took care to praise Warner — though not Burr — as he expressed confidence in the Senate inquiry.

"Mark Warner realizes the importance of the task in front of him, and is pursuing it diligently and smartly," Schumer said. "That gives the Democrats a lot of faith that the process on the Senate side can work."