- The Washington Times - Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday that Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz “absolutely” need to be interviewed again by the Senate Intelligence Committee to talk about payments to a political firm that dug up dirt on President Trump last year.

“They absolutely need to be recalled,” Mrs. Collins said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“It’s difficult to imagine that a campaign chairman, that the head of the DNC, would not know of an expenditure of this magnitude and significance. But perhaps there’s something more going on here. But certainly, it’s worth additional questioning of those two witnesses,” said Mrs. Collins, Maine Republican.

Mr. Podesta and Mrs. Wasserman Schultz, who was the head of the Democratic National Committee last year before resigning over the summer, reportedly denied to congressional investigators that they had any knowledge about an arrangement to pay the firm Fusion GPS for opposition research into Mr. Trump.

That firm was behind the infamous dossier compiled on Mr. Trump’s alleged connections with Russia, some of which has been disproven.

But The Washington Post reported last week that Marc Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, did retain Fusion GPS to conduct research.

Mrs. Collins said Mr. Elias should be questioned as well.

She also said she has not yet seen any “definitive” evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“I’ve seen lots of evidence that the Russians were very active in trying to influence the election,” Mrs. Collins said.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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