Senate Intel Committee Asks Treasury Dept. For Trump Team’s Financial Info

The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked the Treasury Department for financial information related to President Donald Trump, his senior officials and his campaign staffers, CNN reported Tuesday.

“We’ve made a request, to FinCEN in the Treasury Dept, to make sure, not just for example vis-a-vis the President, but just overall our effort to try to follow the intel no matter where it leads,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told CNN, referring to the Treasury Department’s criminal investigation division. “You get materials that show if there have been, what level of financial ties between, I mean some of the stuff, some of the Trump-related officials, Trump campaign-related officials and other officials and where those dollars flow—not necessarily from Russia.”

Warner is the ranking Democrat on the committee, which is probing Russia’s interference into the 2016 election. He said the request was made in cooperation with committee Chair Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).

FinCEN, or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, investigates financial crimes, including money laundering in the real estate sector.

The White House did not respond to TPM’s request for comment.

Whether Trump’s own finances are under investigation remains an open, glaring question. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper declined to say if he had ever seen “a situation where a Trump business interest in Russia” caused him “concern” during Monday’s Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Russia.

Clapper told Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that he “can’t comment on that because that impacts the investigation.”

Graham himself told CNN on Tuesday that he was interested in looking into Trump’s business ties with Russia, before walking back those comments.

He later told the network that he was simply interested in “all things Russia,” rather than the Trump Organization’s business dealings specifically.