Bannon’s data gurus under House committee proctoscope
The Daily Beast‘s Betsy Woodruff and Spencer Ackerman have the juicy details:
A data firm backed by some of Donald Trump’s closest allies is now facing scrutiny as part of an investigation into possible collusion between the president’s team and Russian operatives, The Daily Beast has learned.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is looking at Cambridge Analytica’s work for President Donald Trump’s campaign as part of its investigation into Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 race, according to sources familiar with the probe.
The company is in the process of turning over documents to HPSCI, according to a source familiar with the committee’s work. Another source close to the investigation said that the probe’s focus on Cambridge Analytica is “fruitful.”
Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, had holdings in Cambridge Analytica worth between $1 million and $5 million as recently as April of this year, Bloomberg reported. Bannon, now back as the chairman of the pro-Trump media outlet Breitbart, hasn’t been publicly mentioned as a potential witness for or target of Russia investigators. He previously sat on the board of Cambridge Analytica.
Nevertheless, one gets the feeling Team Mueller would love to ask the fascist fat boy a whole lot of questions! Cambridge Analytica, for its part, is trying to put some positive spin on the story.
Cambridge Analytica, which began working with the Trump campaign in mid-2016 on voter targeting, “has been asked by the House Intelligence Committee to provide it with information that might help its investigation,” a company spokesman said on Wednesday. … “We believe that other organizations that worked on the campaign have been asked to do the same” by the committee, the spokesman added. “CA is not under investigation, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the company.”
Not under investigation — for now!
