The impartiality of the congressional investigations into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian intelligence leading up to the 2016 presidential election has been compromised.

The president’s communications aides have persuaded the chairs of both the House and Senate intelligence committees, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to parrot the White House’s version of what happened, or didn’t happen, to the news media before the investigations have been concluded. Nunes and Burr each then told the press that nothing about these contacts was criminal or subverted American interests.

Exculpating Trump campaign officials before the committees have even neared the end of their investigations thoroughly undermines the credibility of the chairmen. At this point, the only way to convince the American people that the truth about these contacts will emerge is to appoint a special prosecutor to get at what really happened.

Our U.S. senators, Susan Collins and Angus King, are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. They should insist, and we should press them to insist, that the investigations be handed over to a special prosecutor.

Kim Matthews

Westbrook


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