Democrats aim to amend Graham subpoena to include Trump allies

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee will try to amend a subpoena scheduled to get a vote Thursday to include allies and former aides to President Trump.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has scheduled a vote for Thursday on a wide-ranging subpoena that includes dozens of individuals including high-profile former officials like ex-FBI Director James Comey and former national security adviser Susan Rice.

But Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat and a member of the committee, said that Democrats will try to amend the subpoena.

“We will attempt to amend his subpoena … to make sure that if we are clearly trying to find the truth in this matter about whether this was an utterly baseless investigation, we believe we should also be calling a few other witnesses,” Durbin said.

Among the individuals that Democrats will try to get included in Graham’s subpoena are former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump ally Roger Stone and former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates.

“If we truly wanted to get to the bottom of this and bring all the witnesses into whether this was a baseless claim of Russian collusion with anyone in the United States, certainly we would want the record to be complete,” Durbin added.

If Democrats want to change Graham’s broad subpoena request they will need at least one GOP senator to side with them.

Under the Judiciary Committee rules, a subpoena can be issued with an agreement with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) or with a majority of the committee. Each of the Republicans on the panel is expected to support Graham’s request.

Graham is investigating Hurricane Crossfire, the name for the FBI’s investigation into Russian election interference and the Trump campaign, and the court associated with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.