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Tags: Issa | Russia | Probe

Issa Agrees Special Prosecutor Needed for Russia Probe

 (AP)

By    |   Saturday, 25 February 2017 02:33 PM EST

Rep. Darrell Issa Friday night agreed that a special prosecutor should be used in the investigation concerning Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself mirroring calls from Democrats for an independent probe.

"You cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, Jeff Sessions, who was on the campaign and who is an appointee," the California Republican and senior member of the House Judiciary Committee told HBO's Bill Maher Friday night. "You're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take, not just to recuse."

Further, he told Maher, during his "Real Time with Bill Maher" program, that Sessions can't hand off the case to a deputy attorney general, as "that's another political appointee."

Issa made his comments after Maher asserted that had Russians hacked into the Republicans' servers during Mitt Romney's loss in 2012, there is no way Issa's party would have stood for the matter, and the congressman agreed.

He also told Maher there will be continued House and Senate intelligence committee investigations into the hacking scandal, but Maher argued that an independent prosecutor is needed, and Sessions should recuse himself, leading Issa to agree.

Issa also commented Friday night that there "may or may not be fault" found concerning Trump's campaign associates and Russian agents, but at the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin's continued brutality toward his political enemies also points to the need for a special prosecutor.

"This is a bad guy who murders people," said Issa. "We have to work with him; we don't have to trust him. We need to investigate their activities, and we need to do it because they are bad people."

Meanwhile, Saturday morning, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement that he has "grave concerns" about whether the investigation into whether Trump's campaign aides had been in contact with Russia should remain independent, reports The Hill. 

His concerns came after reports claiming the White House had sought the FBI's help, along with that of lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees to refute news stories about the alleged communications. 

"I have called [CIA] Director [Mike] Pompeo and [Intelligence] Chairman [Richard] Burr to express my grave concerns about what this means for the independence of this investigation and a bipartisan commitment to follow the facts, and to reinforce that I will not accept any process that is undermined by political interference,” Warner said.

He also called on Republican leaders to prove they can pursue the investigation.

Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

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Rep. Darrell Issa Friday night agreed that a special prosecutor should be used in the investigation concerning Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself mirroring calls from Democrats for an independent probe.
Issa, Russia, Probe
430
2017-33-25
Saturday, 25 February 2017 02:33 PM
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