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Congress Subpoenas Trump And Obama Officials In Russia Inquiry

The subpoenas ask for documents, records and testimony as well as information about "unmasking."
Posted at 10:22 PM, May 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-31 22:22:54-04

The House Intelligence Committee has issued seven subpoenas for information relating to the investigation into Russia's election meddling last year. 

These are the first subpoenas to come from the panel, issued by Chairman Rep. Mike Conaway and ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff. 

Conaway took over the panel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election from California Rep. Devin Nunes. Nunes recused himself from the probe after his political blunder of sharing intelligence with President Donald Trump before his committee members. 

Four of the seven subpoenas are for "testimony, personal documents and business records" from former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, as well as their respective businesses. 

But the others are requests for three intelligence agencies and concern their Obama-era activities. The subpoenas ask the CIA, FBI and NSA to provide information about requests to "unmask" redacted names of U.S. persons in intelligence reports. 

It's specifically concerned with three Obama officials: former national security adviser Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power.

Names of certain Trump campaign officials were allegedly unmasked, or revealed, in classified intelligence reports regarding their communication with Russian agents. 

As of the announcement, Flynn and Cohen have both agreed to comply with congressional subpoenas ... sort of. 

Flynn said he would comply with a request from the Senate to turn over documents related to the Russia investigation. Cohen said he would be happy to testify if he got a subpoena. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, Brennan, Rice and Power didn't receive the subpoenas directly and haven't yet commented on the story.