(Bloomberg) -- House Republicans are talking about wrapping up their investigation into Russia's campaign meddling despite protests from Democrats that three high-profile witnesses close to President Donald Trump are stiff-arming efforts to question them.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and departing White House communications director Hope Hicks have each declined in separate interviews with the Intelligence Committee to talk about certain matters, in some cases saying the president may want to assert executive privilege over their discussions later.
"If you were going to design this investigation for failure, that's what they'd be doing,” Democrat Mike Quigley said in an interview, referring to the Republican talk of closing the probe. “It's like the president is coordinating with them in this effort.”
The most recent witness to balk at some questions was Hicks, who spent almost nine hours before the Intelligence panel on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she announced she is stepping down. She has told friends that she has been mulling her future for months.
White House Instructions
As Bannon did last month, Hicks told the House panel that she had instructions from the White House to not answer questions on some topics concerning the transition before Trump took office or anything from her tenure in the administration. Lewandowski is refusing to discuss any matters after his departure from the Trump campaign in June 2016, including conversations with the president.
Committee Democrats say members must force these witnesses to testify more fully if the panel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and potential collusion with anyone close to Trump is to be thorough and seen as credible. They say Republicans aren't energetically challenging questionable claims of privilege from the former aides and aren't helping to secure production of other information, including banking and travel documents.
“The integrity and independence of the committee and Congress' investigative and enforcement powers are at stake,” said the top Democrat on the panel, Adam Schiff.
Neither committee Chairman Devin Nunes nor the Republican colleague he picked to lead the panel's Russia investigation, Michael Conaway, returned messages asking for comment.
But other Intelligence panel Republicans acknowledge that even they haven't been brought into any committee meetings on pursuing contempt of Congress charges or other action to compel more witness cooperation.
‘Legitimate Questions'
Representative Tom Rooney, one of the two Republicans assigned as the main witness interviewers in the probe, acknowledged Tuesday that there are “legitimate questions” that need to be answered eventually about what the committee intends to do “for the sake of this body and the committees that have subpoena power” and “whether or not those subpoenas be taken seriously in the future.”
But Rooney stopped short of saying additional legal action should be taken.
“Let's finish the investigation,” Rooney said. “We're almost, I think, nearing the end.”
Quigley said that if the Republicans do move soon to shut down the probe, Democrats will counter the majority's committee report on the investigation's findings with one of their own that would point out information that should have been sought and obtained, but wasn't.
Beyond the limited testimony by Hicks, Bannon and Lewandowski, Schiff and other Democrats are upset that Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen hasn't been forced by subpoena to turn over travel, phone and other documents to verify his strenuous denials of an assertion in an anti-Trump dossier that he met with Russian officials in Prague or elsewhere.
In addition, the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has refused to answer the committee's questions regarding the preparation of a misleading public statement in 2017 about the topic of a June 9, 2016, meeting with a Russian lawyer at the Trump Tower.
Read a QuickTake: Your Guide to Understanding the Trump-Russia Saga
House Intelligence Republicans have shared in the irritation over White House-mandated limits on testimony at times.
When Bannon initially refused to provide some answers that weren't pre-approved by the White House during a committee appearance in January, Republicans joined with Democrats in issuing a subpoena on the spot compelling him to do so.
Then, when Bannon still remained mum on those questions at the White House's instruction in a Feb. 15 re-appearance before the committee, members from both parties lashed out at what they said was an overly broad interpretation of executive privilege.
At the time, Conaway didn't dismiss the possibility that the House panel would pursue contempt proceedings against Bannon. He said he would talk to Speaker Paul Ryan and the committee would seek legal advice.
Since then, Democrats say, Conaway and Nunes haven't shown any willingness to hold Bannon accountable for flouting Congress.
“Our ability to do our work is going to be completely dependent on our willingness to insist” on questions being answered, Schiff said this week. “They said they would insist with Bannon, and yet they have not done so.”
Referring to Hicks, Lewandowski and others, Schiff added, “We can't at this point even get a subpoena for other witnesses who have either refused under White House instructions or just refused because they didn't feel like it at the time.”
Tally of Efforts
While Rooney said refusals by witnesses to cooperate need to be resolved, he said the committee's work has been thorough.
Updated numbers released by the committee show the investigation this week reached its 400th day. As of Wednesday, 20 subpoenas have been issued; 298,231 documents produced for its review; seven countries visited; nine hearing or briefings held; and 71 witness interviewed, including 53 transcribed, with 217 total hours of testimony.
“It's safe to say that we have interviewed the predominant, relevant witnesses that would have the access to the information that we need to write a report based on the four pillars of what our investigation is supposed to be about -- and to be able to do that with full confidence that what our report is saying is accurate," said Rooney.
But Schiff said, “To be credible, the Russia investigation cannot simply take witnesses at their word, or accept baseless assertions of privilege where none apply.”
Separately, the New York Times reported Thursday on tension between the Senate and House Intelligence committees. Quoting unidentified congressional officials, the Times said the Senate panel concluded that GOP House Intelligence members were responsible for leaking private text messages between the Senate Intelligence panel's top Democrat, Mark Warner, and a Russian-connected lawyer.
The Times said Warner and GOP Chairman Richard Burr were so displeased that they reported their findings to House Speaker Paul Ryan. The newspaper said Nunes spokesman Jack Langer didn't dispute that the committee leaked the messages but called the article "absurd."
Burr denied the Times report in an interview with Bloomberg News, saying his and Warner's meeting with Ryan was solely to update him on the status of the Senate panel's investigation. Warner said, "I think it is an unfortunate time when the last truly bipartisan, functioning investigation comes under this kind of assault."
--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis
To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, Laurie Asséo
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