GOP Refuses to Ask Twitter for Private Messages in Russia Probe

Source: Daily Beast | February 21, 2018 | Spencer Ackerman

Twitter could be key to unraveling some of the mysteries surrounding the Trump-Russia nexus. If only Devin Nunes and company would look.

Republicans on the House intelligence committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election have refused Democratic entreaties to subpoena Twitter for direct messages of Donald Trump associates, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell The Daily Beast.

Sources would not share with The Daily Beast specifically whose DMs committee Democrats wanted to subpoena Twitter to acquire. But in hearing transcripts, Democrats have indicated they want DMs concerning Donald Trump Jr. and Trump consigliere Roger Stone—both of whom have been linked to Wikileaks, which famously released hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.   

It’s the latest sign that the Republicans on the hyper-factionalized committee are willing to focus on anything but potential collusion between Donald Trump and the Kremlin in the 2016 election. Trump’s associates tend to share their boss’s love for Twitter and, like many users of the social network, have been known to use direct messaging for sensitive communications.

And it comes as frustrated Democrats are accusing their Republican colleagues behind closed doors of intransigence that leaves them in a precarious position for any investigation: being asked to trust witnesses without the tools to verify their stories.

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Democrats are getting restless. They’ve urged in committee hearings dominated by Nunes’ accusations of surveillance malfeasance that the Republicans are blocking access to witness documentation, including travel records and communications logs. The DMs fall in that category.

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  • Consistent February 21, 2018 at 8:30 pm #21799

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