The former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Monday that he doesn’t believe the panel should be conducting an investigation into the president’s finances, saying other House committees are better suited to run a financial probe.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers Michael (Mike) Dennis RogersDemocrats slam DHS chief for defying subpoena for testimony on worldwide threats Remembering 9/11 as we evaluate today's emerging threats Hillicon Valley: Tech CEOs brace for House grilling | Senate GOP faces backlash over election funds | Twitter limits Trump Jr.'s account MORE (R-Mich.), who led the panel from 2011 to 2015, said at an event hosted by the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security that he thinks the committee should focus more on oversight for intelligence issues.

“I feel pretty strongly that the intelligence committee is not the place to be investigating finances of ‘fill in the blank,’” Rogers said.

ADVERTISEMENT

He said that he knows “for a fact” that the committee in its current state is not conducting the kind of oversight for the intelligence community that it should be, suggesting that it is distracted by related topics that are better left to be probed by other areas of Congress.

The House Intelligence Committee, now headed by chairman Rep. Adam Schiff Adam Bennett SchiffChris Matthews ripped for complimenting Trump's 'true presidential behavior' on Ginsburg Trump casts doubt on Ginsburg statement, wonders if it was written by Schiff, Pelosi or Schumer Top Democrats call for DOJ watchdog to probe Barr over possible 2020 election influence MORE (D-Calif.), is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

A Democratic committee aide confirmed to The Hill late last month that the panel is planning on calling Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg in for questioning, after Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen Michael Dean CohenA huge deal for campaign disclosure: Trump's tax records for Biden's medical records Our Constitution is under attack by Attorney General William Barr Eric Trump says he will comply with New York AG's subpoena only after Election Day MORE repeatedly referenced Weisselberg during a public hearing with the House Oversight Committee.

Cohen, who spent two days privately interviewing with the House Intelligence Committee in recent weeks, had repeatedly cited Weisselberg in his testimony implicating the president in a plot to make hush-money payments to two women alleging affairs with President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE ahead of the 2016 election.

Former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who served as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee for eight years in the 2000s, noted that there were “abuses or misbehaviors” under Republican leadership during the previous leadership.

Former committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes Devin Gerald NunesSunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Sunday shows preview: With less than two months to go, race for the White House heats up Sunday shows preview: Republicans gear up for national convention, USPS debate continues in Washington MORE (R-Calif.) recused himself from the Russia probe after it was revealed he made a private trip to the White House to view documents he said showed the inappropriate unmasking of transition team officials. His decision to share information with the White House was considered proof of his bias.

Harman, now serving as president and CEO of the Wilson Center, said that the current effort to conduct investigations like that into the president’s finances could be “an overcorrection.”

But she said that she believes there will be some “course corrections” to bring bipartisanship back to the intelligence panel.

Both former Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence panels, including former Sens. Bill Nelson Clarence (Bill) William NelsonDemocrats sound alarm on possible election chaos Trump, facing trouble in Florida, goes all in NASA names DC headquarters after agency's first Black female engineer Mary W. Jackson MORE (D-Fla.) and Saxby Chambliss Clarence (Saxby) Saxby ChamblissLobbying world GOP lobbyist tapped for White House legislative affairs The Hill's Morning Report - Gillibrand drops out as number of debaters shrinks MORE (R-Ga.), also indicated at the event that they believed the House committee has become too partisan and political.

“I think it’s dysfunctional at a very high level,” Rogers said of the panel in its current form.

And Harman said that while lawmakers on the intelligence committee shouldn’t necessarily seek press attention about their investigative work, it appears that current House members are using the high-profile nature of the current Russia probes to their advantage.

“The House is a perpetual election machine,” she said, adding that the lawmakers “want to hit the microphones and be visible, and there’s pressure to do that.”

“And when some of them do that it’s pressure on others” to do the same, Harman added.