House panel votes to release Russia investigation interview transcripts
The House Intelligence Committee is poised to release a batch of transcripts from interviews conducted as part of the panel’s investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 campaign.
The committee voted Friday to release the 53 transcripts, which include interviews with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and others.
Republicans on the panel voted to wrap up the committee's Russia probe earlier this year and published a controversial 243-page report detailing their investigation and clearing President Donald Trump and his campaign of colluding with Russia.
Democrats, who have long sought the transcripts' release, sharply contested the majority's findings in their own 100-page rebuttal, accusing Republicans of not conducting a serious inquiry.
After voting to release the transcripts Friday morning, the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., highlighted the omission of some transcripts that Republicans voted to keep from being released.
Committee Republicans declined to include transcripts from interviews with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and Adm. Mike Rogers, a former director of the National Security Agency.
"This is not transparency," Schiff wrote. "This is subterfuge."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence will now review the transcripts before their release.
ABC News' Ben Siegel contributed reporting.
