Republicans give Trump what he wants _ new Clinton investigations
WASHINGTON _ A powerful Senate committee has given the Justice Department until Thursday to disclose whether it's investigating reported Ukrainian efforts in the 2016 election on behalf of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
If Justice says it's not investigating the allegations, the Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman wants to know why they're not.
"Are you investigating the Ukrainian government's intervention in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of the Clinton campaign?" reads the letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "If not, why not?"
It's also the third such congressional Republican effort in the last week aimed at launching, or reopening, investigations into Clinton's campaign. House Judiciary Committee Republicans formally requested documents relating to the FBI's campaign investigation and 20 committee GOP members sent a seven-page letter to Justice asking a special counsel be named for a Clinton probe. Justice has not responded.
These efforts follow President Donald Trump's repeated public scolding of his own attorney general as well GOP lawmakers for not investigating Clinton while allowing an investigation of his campaign's ties to Moscow to deepen.
Ukraine was quick to deny any efforts to interfere in the election.
_McClatchy Washington Bureau
