WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation may be over, but other probes on Capitol Hill into the president and Russian interference in the 2016 election are ongoing.
- Mueller's redacted report to be released Thursday
- Battle over President Trump's finances is escalating
- Charlie Crist questions why Trump's tax returns not released
As House Democrats step up their fight for the president's personal and business financial records, Senate Republicans on the Intelligence Committee are preparing to release their final report in the months ahead.
"We believe in transparency, we believe in openness, especially when it relates to our public figures," said Rep. Charlie Crist (D-13th District). He sits on the Appropriations Committee.
The battle over the president's finances is escalating, as congressional Democrats issue new subpoenas asking several financial institutions for records. They also set a new deadline of one week from today for the Internal Revenue Service to turn over six years of the president's tax returns.
"You have to wonder why hasn't he given them over. It makes you think what does he have to hide," Crist said.
This is all part of Democrats' ongoing investigation into potential foreign influence over the Trump organization.
"Here in Congress, it's the same witch hunt but everybody has got their favorite broomstick now," said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-1st District). "With the Russia investigation collapsing, Democrats have tried to harass the president on everything from security clearances to his tax returns to his family to his appointments to the cabinet."
In the upper Chamber, the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's influence on American politics is in the final stages.
"In fact, the writing has already begun on it," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) in an interview with Spectrum News. He is a key member of the committee.
Unlike the committee's counterpart in the House, the Senate committee issued a report in the summer of 2018, concluding that Russia did interfere in 2016 to try to help the president. The panel has interviewed more than 200 witnesses, and still has several more before the process to publicly release their findings begins.
"It will probably take, I'm guessing 60 days to write the report and another 60 days to go through the redaction and declassification process," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina). He made the comment at a press conference at Duke University a few weeks ago.
Members of the committee like Rubio continue to emphasize that the probe has a unique objective.
"Our investigation is different. We are not a criminal justice entity. If we came across something that seemed criminal, we would refer it to the Justice Department, and we have," Rubio said.
"Ours is largely focused on first, the performance of the intelligence community, and second, a clear understanding of the methods and extent to which Russia attempted to interfere and continues to attempt to interfere in our internal politics and our elections," he added.
The panel could file its final report as soon as this summer. Burr, the Republican Chairman of the committee, has said he has not found any evidence the Trump campaign colluded with Russians.
But Democrat Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner has suggested otherwise. Those differences of opinion may be further complicated after the release of Mueller's redacted report on Thursday.