FACT CHECK: Has The House Held Zero Hearings On The Russia Investigation?
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office claimed Monday that the House has held zero hearings on the Russia investigation since the new session of Congress began in January.
“ZERO: Number of House Committee hearings on Russia’s interference in the 2016 Presidential election,” read a blog post enumerating statistics about the Republican-led Congress.
Verdict: False
As of Monday, the House Intelligence Committee had held three open hearings on the Russia investigation. Two more hearings are scheduled for this week.
Fact Check:
The House Intelligence Committee held its first open hearing back in March, with testimony by former FBI Director James Comey and former NSA Chief Mike Rogers. It was at this hearing that Comey publicly acknowledged the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign.
Two months later, former CIA Director John Brennan testified before the committee, publicly expressing concerns over ties between Russia and the Trump campaign for the first time.
Former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson testified before the committee in June, and two more hearings have been scheduled for this week.
The House Intelligence Committee will interview representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter Wednesday on how Russia may have used social media to influence the election, and Thursday it will receive testimony from Carter Page, a former adviser to the Trump campaign.
The Page hearing will not be open to the public, but it will be conducted in an unclassified setting, meaning the committee may release a transcript.
The committee has also held several closed sessions pertaining to Russia. House lawmakers met with senior White House adviser Jared Kushner in July, and has likely interviewed former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and others.
The House committee invited former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify in a public setting earlier this year, but the hearing was canceled.
Pelosi did not respond to a request for comment.
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