Senior Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee expect to wrap up their probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election in the coming weeks, NBC News reported Monday.



Conservative lawmakers on the panel told NBC they have completed most of the necessary interviews despite pleas from Democrats to investigate what they say are new leads.

"We're not a criminal investigation," Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., told NBC News. "If I honestly thought that there was fire somewhere we have an obligation constitutionally to look further into, I would have no problem doing that. But when you don't and you've got to the point where you're getting into the fifth and sixth level of people coming in here, then you're spinning your wheels."

The Republican heading the investigation, Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, declined to offer a timetable.

"We're working hard to finish it. But I've got no timeline in mind," he told NBC.

A spokesperson for the committee did not respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., confirmed to The New York Times that he told California Democrat Jackie Speier, who is also on the committee, that the end of the year offered a "natural boundary" for the panel's work.

Democratic lawmakers on the committee have said there is more investigative work to do and have criticized what they've said are attempts to shut the probe down.

"I'm increasingly concerned that pressure from outside the building from the president, from Steve Bannon and their allies to shut us down is having its effect," said the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California.

"All too often when we interview witnesses and they provide leads that we need to corroborate or that we need to investigate further, my colleagues won't allow those," Schiff told NBC News.

The House Intelligence Committee investigation has lasted for more than a year. It has included interviews with the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; former FBI Director James Comey and White House senior advisor Jared Kushner.

Two Senate committees and Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller are also looking into reports of inappropriate ties between President Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia. The president has repeatedly and forcefully denied that there was any wrongdoing.

Read the full report at NBC News.