Is Sen. Richard Burr Investigating Trump's Russia Ties--or Helping to Cover Them Up?

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September/October 2019 Issue
Is Sen. Richard Burr Investigating Trump’s Russia Ties—or Helping to Cover Them Up?
In his role as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr walks the line between probing the Trump-Russia scandal and providing cover for the president.
Dan Friedman


Richard Burr was contrite. It was late February 2017, and the Washington Post had just exposed the North Carolina Republican and chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee for running damage control for the Trump administration over its mounting Russia scandal. Along with Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), his counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, Burr had spoken to reporters at the behest of the White House to rebut reports that the Trump campaign had repeated contact with Russian intelligence operatives.

The combative Nunes made no apologies for his efforts to shield the new president from scrutiny. But Burr was different. He immediately moved to address the criticism. At a closed-door meeting with intelligence committee members days after the story broke, Burr acknowledged he had made a mistake. He pledged to avoid future missteps that could raise questions about the independence of his committee’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

That message quelled complaints by Democrats and some Republicans on the panel. Since then, Burr has kept Democrats on board, in particular the committee’s vice chair, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), making the intelligence committee the lone congressional panel conducting a bipartisan investigation into Trump’s Russia ties. That is no small accomplishment, given the opposing pressures Burr faces: Trump’s aggressive opposition to any probe, and Democratic demands for a more intensive investigation. Burr has “handled it very well,” says Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the committee.

Others differ. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), an intelligence committee member, says the panel should hold more public hearings—something Burr has declined to do—and is moving too hastily to finish up the probe. “There’s a lot of work to do before the Senate Intelligence Committee proclaims mission accomplished on its Russia report,” he notes. Burr has led an investigation credible enough to draw attacks from the right. But an examination of his time running it suggests he hasn’t tried all that hard to expose wrongdoing by Trump and his minions. And as the committee’s probe nears its conclusion—the panel could issue its report on the Trump campaign’s Russia contacts as soon as this fall—it’s worth considering whether Burr is just playing a longer game than Nunes and company.

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/08/burr-russia-mueller-investigation/