Senate Intel member distances from House committee on approach to Russia probe

A senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee said his panel is working on the Russia investigation “on a bipartisan basis,” unlike the House Intelligence Committee.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said on Sunday that there isn’t much of a relationship between the two congressional committees working on the Russia probe.

“There really isn’t that much of a relationship. We’re only a couple of hundreds of yards apart but it is worlds apart in terms of the way we have approached this,” King told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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He noted that his committee has not released “memos and countermemos.” Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a memo in early February composed from classified documents released to the committee from the FBI and Justice Department. It was followed later in the month by a memo compiled by Democrats on the committee rebutting its claims using the same classified information.

The critical rhetoric between the two parties represented on the House committee has intensified in recent weeks, with the ranking member frequently blasting the chairman for not subpoenaing witnesses.

“It’s not my position to comment on what they do,” King continued. “I’m going to concentrate on doing our role as best we can. So far we’ve been able to maintain a bipartisan approach to this.”

The interview follows another controversy on the House committee regarding leaked text messages.

Recently, the Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly found that a Republican member of the House committee leaked to Fox News text messages sent by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). The Senate committee’s chairman, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), denied that his committee reached that conclusion.

But King said Sunday, “There is evidence that it came out of the House side and that’s disturbing.”

Fox News published text messages between Warner and Adam Waldman — a lobbyist with ties to Hillary Clinton.

Warner was trying to establish a contact with Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier alleging links between President Trump and Russia, as part of the Senate’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Some Republicans criticized Warner for attempting to make contact with Steele outside the regular channels, and Trump said it was “all tied into Crooked Hillary [Clinton].”