In another attempt to please President Donal Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is requesting interviews with a slew of current and former Justice Department and FBI officials who investigated Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Friday asking that he make 17 officials, many of whom are identified only by title, available for interviews.
“As you are aware, the committee is continuing to investigate matters related to the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, including the application for, and renewals of, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] warrant on Carter Page,” Graham wrote in the letter, according to a copy obtained by CBS News.
Graham notes in his letter that the committee will “additionally be directly contacting former Department officials to schedule transcribed interviews.”
Graham has said he plans to call former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to testify as part of his investigation.
Graham, a top ally of Trump’s, has vowed he will use his gavel to look into the origins of the Russia investigation and the decision to surveil Page, a former campaign aide.
“I’m going to get to the bottom of the FISA work process because it was an abuse of power of the Department of Justice, the FBI,” Graham told CBS News on Sunday.
