- The Washington Times - Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Democrats on the House Intelligence committee have begun conducting interviews with witnesses in their bid to continue the Russian election meddling probe after the panel’s GOP leaders concluded the investigation last month.

On Wednesday afternoon, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie gathered with committee Democrats behind closed doors.

In March, the former Cambridge Analytica employee sparked a global debate over electronic privacy when he revealed that the data-mining firm, which was affiliated with President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, had gathered millions of Facebook profiles to influence elections.

On Tuesday, Mr. Wylie appeared before Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committee. Republicans were invited to both meetings but declined to attend.

Last month House Intelligence committee GOP members infuriated Democrats by concluding that after roughly a year of a sprawling investigation and interviews of a massive range of witnesses — they’d found no evidence of collusion or coordination between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Democrats have insisted that the probe was closed not because of due process but because of pressure from the White House.

Republicans charge that Mr. Wylie’s visit — and future interviews — are part of a Democratic attempt to keep the Russian meddling narrative in the public eye before the upcoming midterm elections.

From 2013 to 2015 Mr. Wylie worked for the U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica.

In several interviews last month, he said the firm sought information on Facebook to build psychological profiles on a large portion of the U.S. electorate. Mr. Wylie has also expressed fears that the data may have been turned over to Russians who aimed to interfere with the U.S. election.

At one point Cambridge Analytica’s vice president was Steve Bannon, who later became Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman and White House adviser.

This article is based in part on wire service reports.

• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.

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