House intel panel approves subpoenas for Trump lawyer, former top aide

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House intel panel approves subpoenas for Trump lawyer, former top aide

By Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball

REUTERS

 

Michael Cohen, attorney for The Trump Organization, arrives at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House intelligence committee on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Donald Trump's former national security adviser and his personal lawyer in connection with its probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the panel announced.

 

Separately, the panel approved subpoenas to the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI seeking records showing which former Obama administration officials requested the "unmasking" of the names of Trump associates who were inadvertently picked up in top-secret communications intercepts, a congressional official said on condition of anonymity.

 

It was unclear why the subpoenas to the agencies were not mentioned in the committee's announcement of the approval of the subpoenas to former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen, one of the president's personal lawyers.

 

The committee also approved subpoenas to the two men's firms, Flynn Intel Llc, and Michael D. Cohen and Associates PC, the committee announcement said.

 

"As part of our ongoing investigation into Russian active measures during the 2016 campaign, today we approved subpoenas for several individuals for testimony, personal documents and business records," Republican Representative Mike Conaway and Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who are leading the committee probe, said in a joint statement.

 

"We hope and expect that anyone called to testify or provide documents will comply with that request, so that we may gain all the information within the scope of our investigation," they said. "We will continue to pursue this investigation wherever the facts may lead."

 

The approval of the seven subpoenas appeared to represent a political compromise between the House of Representatives panel's majority Republicans, who have joined Trump in demanding investigations into leaks of classified information to news organizations, and minority Democrats, who are pushing for an aggressive investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump campaign aides.

 

Separately, federal prosecutors pursuing a criminal investigation into Flynn have issued subpoenas to people and businesses who have done business with him seeking information, including bank records and communications, related to Flynn, the Flynn Intel Group and Invovo BV, a Dutch company owned by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

 

Inovo paid the Flynn Intel Group $530,000 in 2016, according to a March filing by Flynn’s company with the Justice Department.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a campaign of computer hacking, fake news and propaganda intended to swing the election to Republican Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

 

Putin has denied conducting such a campaign. Trump denies any collusion between Russia and his campaign and has questioned the veracity of the U.S. intelligence finding.

 

Trump fired Flynn in February for making misleading statements about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington. The retired Army general is the subject of congressional, Justice Department and Defense Department investigations into his apparent failure to disclose payments he received from Russian and Turkish entities.

 

Cohen is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny in a Federal Bureau of Investigation examination of contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia, according to the New York Times. He reportedly was involved in a back-channel plan, which never came to fruition, which would have involved a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and the lifting of U.S. sanctions against Moscow.

 

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Jonathan Landay; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Walsh and Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-01