The
Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to authorize several subpoenas against ex-officials from former President Barack Obama's administration in an attempt to investigate the origins of the intelligence community's
Russia investigation.The party-line vote will let Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) subpoena former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and other officials. The decision comes a week after the Senate Homeland Security Committee's GOP majority voted to subpoena several Obama officials regarding the "unmasking" of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.Republicans have long been skeptical of the origins of the FBI's investigation into ties between the
Trump campaign and Russia. The Senate Intelligence Committee already concluded that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016
election on President Trump's behalf, but Graham wants to also look into foreign surveillance applications and just why former Special Counsel
Robert Mueller was appointed in the first place.While debating the authorization,
Democratic senators suggested subpoenaing former Attorney General
Jeff Sessions, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser
Jared Kushner, former Trump campaign chair
Paul Manafort, and
Rudy Giuliani, among others. The
Republican majority voted them down every time.