Dem: Manafort should testify before House intel panel

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, should testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee as part of its probe into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our investigation will not be complete if he does not testify. He should be subpoenaed,” Swalwell, a member of the committee, said during an interview on MSNBC.

Swalwell referred to a Wednesday report that revealed Manafort worked for a Russian billionaire a decade ago, during which he sought to advance work that he said could “greatly benefit” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government.

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“The dots continue to connect around Paul Manafort and his ties to Russia. And we are seeing that it’s not just the deep personal political, financial ties that Donald Trump and his team has with Russia,” Swalwell continued.

Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Tuesday that Manafort should also go before his panel regarding its probe of Russian interference in the election and ties to the Trump campaign.

“We’re already starting to interview individuals,” Warner told CNN.

Swalwell said on MNSBC that he wants to know whether Manafort’s connections to the Russian government also tied into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“We want to now know, did these ties extend to helping Russia during the interference campaign?” he asked. “Are we seeing dramatic changes in foreign policy toward Russia because we owe Russia something because they helped these individuals?”

Swalwell said Trump should not change U.S. foreign policy toward Russia until the investigation concludes.

“Also, I’m calling on the president to suspend any foreign policy related to Russia … I believe we should not embrace Moscow anymore. We should not reduce sanctions. We should not do anything to threaten NATO’s check on Moscow,” he said.

“Until the president is cleared under this investigation, until the questions about Moscow’s influence on the president and his team, I think we should put on hold any changes with policy toward Russia,” Swalwell added.