Dems: GOP ‘on notice’ over Russia probes

Congress’s top Democrats are blasting top GOP lawmakers over reports that the administration asked for help shooting down stories about ties between Moscow and officials with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, about backlash over a report that he helped the White House push back against a New York Times story about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Senator Burr’s on notice because what he did was wrong. This is not the way to conduct a fair, impartial investigation that goes where the facts lead,” Schumer said during a press conference at the National Press Club.

{mosads}A senior administration official told Axios that White House press secretary Sean Spicer arranged for Burr and CIA Director Mike Pompeo to speak with reporters and push back on a story about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Schumer added that he was “very disappointed” over the report about Burr, saying “it certainly gives the appearance if not the reality of a lack of impartiality.”

A spokeswoman for Burr didn’t immediately respond to request for comment on the Axios report.

Democrats have warned that they will increase calls for an independent investigation if they believe Burr’s committee is unwilling to dig into allegations that Trump officials were in contract with Russia.

Spicer also gave reporters phone numbers to reach Burr’s House counterpart — Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), according to Axios.

Nunes earlier on Monday publicly dismissed allegations of contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

“There is no evidence that I’ve been presented [by the intelligence community] of regular contact with anybody in the Trump campaign,” he told reporters.

Both the House and Senate Intelligence committees are investigating Russian efforts to influence U.S. presidential election, including any links between campaign officials and Moscow.

Nunes denied that the White House coordinated effort to push back on stories.

“All it was was a White House communications person passing a number and a name of a reporter over to me if I would talk to them following up what I had already told all of you in the days before that,” he said.

But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — speaking at the National Press Club with Schumer — blasted Nunes’s comments.

“First of all, he knew that from classified information. He shouldn’t be saying that,” she told reporters.

She added that his comments are “ridiculous” and raise “serious questions about stonewalling.”

“Apart from that, if he won’t investigate … then he can’t possibly know what he is talking about,” she added. “This is called stonewalling. What are the Republicans in Congress afraid of?”

Pelosi noted she would have supported a probe into “Russian disruption of our election” even if Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had won the election.

“It’s about our democracy,” she said.

Democrats have raised concerns for months about Russia’s meddling in the White House race and Trump’s warmer tone toward the country’s leader, Vladimir Puttin.

Pelosi added that Trump’s stance toward Russia, including questioning Obama-era sanctions, needs to be looked into.

“Why else would he be putting Putin on a pedestal, flirting with lifting the sanctions?” she asked. “What is this about? Something is strange about this.”