WASHINGTON (AP) – In the panel’s first act since Democrats took the majority, the House intelligence committee voted Wednesday to send more than 50 interview transcripts from its now-closed Russia investigation to special counsel Robert Mueller.
Two Republican members of the panel, Reps. Michael Conaway of Texas and Chris Stewart of Utah, confirmed the outcome of the vote, which took place behind closed doors.
The vote came the morning after President Donald Trump criticized “ridiculous partisan investigations” in his State of the Union speech.
The intelligence panel’s new chairman, California Rep. Adam Schiff, had long said that sending Mueller the transcripts from the probe into Russian election interference would be one of his first actions. Two Trump associates have already been charged with lying to the committee, and Schiff has said Mueller should consider whether additional perjury charges are warranted as part of the special counsel’s investigation.
Schiff has indicated that he will re-open parts of the committee probe, which Republicans closed last March, concluding there was no evidence of conspiracy or collusion between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Democrats strongly objected at the time, saying the Republicans prematurely closed the investigation.