(CNSNews.com) – As more and more Democrats angle to see Donald Trump’s tax returns, believing they may contain information that could be used against him, the ranking member of the House intelligence committee took a more measured approach on Sunday.
It depends on the evidence, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told ABC’s “This Week.”
I think if the evidence develops that one of the Russian tactics, and this was suggested, of course, in that dossier, is to financially entangle people as a way of exerting influence. If the evidence leads in that direction, then his tax returns will be pertinent to our investigation.
But again I think we try to develop the evidence. We follow that evidence where it leads, and not leap to any conclusions on the front end.
Appearing on the same program, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who sits on the Senate intelligence committee, said it’s too early to talk about subpoenaing Trump’s tax return:
I think that's getting ahead of ourselves at this point. We've been given extraordinary access to the intelligence underlying the intelligence community's assessment about Russia's activities in our political system last year. That wasn't done by the Obama administration before now. That was done by the Trump administration.
So, so far, the level of cooperation with our review is something deeper and richer than I have seen in my time in Congress. I think we should proceed with the materials we have at hand before we make the decision whether we need to go on to additional materials.