House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said it “is very definite that Russians interfered” with the 2016 election and those responsible should be brought to justice.
Goodlatte made his comments during a Friday interview Fox News’ “American Newsroom.”
But he called the timing of recent announcement of the indictments of 12 Russians linked to the election meddling “curious.”
The Justice Department had announced the indictments just before President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“However, I believe that it is very definite that Russians interfered with our election in 2016,” he said. “And I think it's important that the investigation move forward to determine who those people are and try to bring them to justice.”
But he cautioned: “When you do it, you have to be careful about what the foreign policy implications are and also the implications for U.S. Intelligence sources in other countries around the world. We don't want to set a precedent that is going to endanger them with trumped up charges against them.”
He defended his committee’s own investigation, saying it was not designed to interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
“Well, I think that the fact of the matter is that we, in our investigation, have said repeatedly from the outset that we do not want to in any way interfere with the investigation being conducted by the special counsel into Russian interference in our election,” he said.
“I will also say, however, that our investigation includes activities taken by the FBI and the Department of Justice in 2016 related to both the Hillary Clinton email matter and the so-called Trump-Russia collusion.
Goodlatte has said he believes it’s time for Mueller to start wrapping his investigation.
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