Rep. Chris Stewart says he sees no need right now to ask President Trump to testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee, despite calls from his Democratic colleagues.
Newly discovered emails that detailed a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign has prompted California Democrat Eric Swalwell to suggest that the House Intelligence Committee needs to hear from Trump on the issue. The emails showed top Trump business associates sought help from Russian President Vladimir Putin to move the project forward.
“Frankly, I think it’s silly,” said Stewart. “People who say we need to bring the president before the committee, what are you gonna ask him? We might eventually see a need for President Trump to come before the committee, but this isn’t it.”
Stewart says the new emails about a possible business venture in Russia don’t shock him at all, saying there’s really not much there.
“President Trump has expressed interest in building in Moscow since the late 90’s and early 2000’s. It was one one of the hottest real estate markets in the world. It would be surprising if he didn’t. What conclusion can we draw from that other than he was a businessman who wanted to go to a potentially lucrative market?” said Stewart.
The new emails are part of a swirling mass of stories and media reports about Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election. Stewart says trying to use these emails as evidence of some sort of collusion between Trump and the Russian government is just plain wrong.
“How is the fact that he was interested in doing business in Russia evidence of collusion? That’s absurd.”
Hovering over all of this is the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election by special counsel Robert Mueller. Some of Stewart’s Republican colleagues are suggesting cutting off funding for Mueller’s probe or putting a time limit on how much longer he can continue investigating. Stewart says that would be inappropriate.
“I think that’s a silly idea as well. I think we need to let Mr. Mueller finish his investigation. I hope he does it quickly. I hope he doesn’t take two years and leave a lot of uncertainty. One way or the other, the American people deserve to hear this.”
