Rep. Jamie Raskin joined Rep. Don Beyer and 20 fellow House Democrats in seeking answers from Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller about his knowledge of Russian meetings and contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign. Their inquiry came after a series of news reports revealed that Miller, then a senior aide on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, was alerted to Russian offers of assistance to that campaign by his subordinate George Papadopoulos, who later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russian meetings and contacts.
The Representatives wrote:
“We write with questions about your role in attempts to coordinate action between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials or operatives during the 2016 presidential election. These questions arise from recent admissions of Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to lying to the FBI about his meetings and contacts with Russian government officials…
“…We also share grave concerns about any official in the White House with a position of influence over national security who knew about, or even participated in, covert arrangements designed to help a foreign adversary of the United States subvert our democratic elections processes.”
The Representatives went on to note that Miller remains a senior figure in the Trump White House with a security clearance and access to sensitive classified information. They asked Miller to outline any knowledge he had of Russian offers of assistance to the Trump campaign, and steps that he took after learning of such offers, including notification of his superiors. They also asked whether Miller properly disclosed all meetings and contacts with Russian officials on his Standard Form 86 (SF-86).
Rep. Beyer’s April letter calling for suspension of Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner’s security clearance pending investigation of myriad omissions on his SF-86 was followed by a June letter seeking revocation of that clearance. He also led Democrats in raising concerns about Senior White House Advisor Ivanka Trump’s security clearance in a July letter to the FBI, and called for revocation of her clearance in October after massive discrepancies in her ethics disclosures emerged.
The letter was signed by Democratic Representatives Donald Beyer (VA), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Ted Lieu (CA), Peter Welch (VT), Zoe Lofgren (CA), Keith Ellison (MN), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Marcy Kaptur (OH), Debbie Wasserman-Shultz (FL), Nydia Velazquez (NY), Dina Titus (NV), Lloyd Doggett (TX), Yvette Clarke (NY), Steve Cohen (TN), Tim Walz (MN), Grace Napolitano (CA), Ruben Gallego (AZ), Betty McCollum (MN), Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ), and Donald Payne Jr. (NJ).
The letter can be found here.