Reps. Mike Conaway and Adam Schiff huddled with Robert Mueller (pictured) in a secure Capitol conference room to begin setting parameters for the probe. | Getty Mueller meets with House Intel members

Members of the House Intelligence Committee huddled Tuesday with Robert Mueller — the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election — to ensure their parallel investigations don’t conflict with one another.

Reps. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who are leading the House’s probe into the matter, huddled with Mueller in a secure Capitol conference room to begin setting parameters.


“We are setting up a system to deconflict,” Conaway said shortly after the meeting.

Mueller has been expanding his investigation, which was authorized by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. He is also tasked with looking into the possibility that Trump associates aided Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 campaign. And he’s also believed to be looking into the prospect that Trump obstructed justice when he fired Comey, who had been leading the FBI’s Russia investigation at the time.

Conaway said he was unsure how long it would take to establish clear delineation between the probes, and he declined to say whether there were any other subjects raised during the meeting with Mueller.

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Conaway also said he wouldn’t discuss whether the White House has responded to the committee’s request for any recordings that might exist of meetings between Trump and Comey.

Comey testified earlier this month that he felt pressured by Trump to help “lift the cloud” of the Russia investigation from his White House and to end a related investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

When Comey’s account began emerging shortly after he was fired, Trump insinuated on Twitter that tapes of their conversations might exist. Comey has said he would welcome the production of such tapes, and the White House has refused to say whether any such recordings exist.

