Grassley: There is no GOP 'conspiracy' to shield Donald Trump from Russia investigation

There is no Republican “conspiracy” to protect President Donald Trump from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said on Wednesday.

“I hear all this conspiracy about Republicans ganging up to make sure that we shut down this investigation,” Grassley, a Republican, said. “I haven’t been involved in such discussions.”

Grassley is Iowa’s senior senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of four congressional panels investigating Russia’s role in the election.

Media coverage of the investigations gives the distinct impression that Republicans are shielding the president for political reasons, Grassley said. But that hasn’t been his experience.

“I’m thinking to myself now, when have I had a meeting with any Republican that said we ought to work together to stop this or that? I haven’t been involved in any such discussions,” he said. “I can tell you right now, I haven’t had those conversations with colleagues or the White House.”

He made the comments during a weekly call with Iowa reporters a day after U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released the transcript of an interview the Judiciary Committee conducted with the head of a private intelligence firm that investigated Russia’s involvement in the campaign generally and with the Trump campaign specifically.

Feinstein said the public release was aimed at knocking down unfair attacks against the firm, Fusion GPS, as well as the broader federal investigation into Russian meddling and possible collusion. But it drew an immediate rebuke from Grassley, who said it would undermine the Judiciary’s own investigation.

Grassley has resisted making public the transcript of the 10-hour interview with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, even after Simpson himself asked for its release. Last week, Grassley referred the author the firm’s Russia dossier, Christopher Steele, to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution, alleging that he had lied to federal investigators.

Grassley’s comments to reporters also came a couple hours after Trump himself tweeted that the investigations were a “witch hunt” and asserting that “Republicans should finally take control!”

Grassley defended his investigation as fair, untainted by political considerations and devoted to going “where the facts lead you.”

“My job isn’t to make the president look good or bad, it’s just to get the facts out,” Grassley said, adding, “When I’m chairman of a committee, I’m in control, and what the president says doesn’t bear upon what I do.”