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ByEileenSullivan and Chad Day TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON PresidentDonaldTrump's formercampaignmanager,a key figure in investigations into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, has volun- teered to be interviewed by lawmakers as part of an in- creasingly partisan House probe of the Kremlin's al- leged meddling in the 2016 election. The chairman of the House intelligence commit- tee, Rep. Devin Nunes, on Friday announced the pros- pect of an interview with Paul Manafort, and Nunes cancelledapreviouslysched- uled public hearing in which former Obama administra- tion officials had agreed to testify about the Russia in- vestigation. Manafort also volunteered to be inter- viewed by the Senate intel- ligence committee, which is conducting its own investi- gation. It was not clear whether Manafort had offered to tes- tify under oath or in a pub- lic hearing. Manafort volunteered to be interviewed the same week that FBI director James Comey confirmed the existence of an ongoing counterintelligence investi- gation into possible Trump associates' coordination with Russia and just days after an Associated Press report revealed Manafort worked with a Russian bil- lionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago. The confirmation of an ongoing FBI investigation was a blow to the White House, which has described the Russia probe as a ruse. And the new details about Manafort's ties to a close Putin ally appear to contra- dict what Trump has previ- ously said about Manafort's connections. In February, Manafort said he was never involved with "anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration." Trump has used the denials to assert that "to the best of his knowledge" none of his associates has anything to do with Russia. But docu- ments obtained by the AP reveal Manafort had sought work from a Putin ally and proposed a campaign that he said could "greatly ben- efit the Putin government." Nunes, a former dairy farmer from California and member of the Trump tran- sition team, on Wednesday told reporters that an un- disclosed source had shown him intelligence reports re- vealing that the commu- nications of Trump transi- tion officials were scooped up through routine surveil- lance and improperly spread through intelligence agen- cies during the final days of the Obama administration. After he briefed reporters, Nunes met with the presi- dent. Democrats said Nunes' loyalties to Trump appeared tooutweighhiscommitment to an independent, biparti- san investigation when he rushed to the White House todeliverthepresidentinfor- mation that Trump said vin- dicated him for his claims thatformerPresidentBarack Obama wiretapping him. Comey, Nunes and other in- telligence officials have re- futedTrump'sclaim,andthe presidenthasofferednosup- porting evidence. "To take evidence that may or may not be related to the investigation to the White House, was wholly in- appropriate, and, of course, cast grave doubts into the ability to run a credible in- vestigation and the integ- rity of that investigation," the committee's top Demo- crat, Adam Schiff of Califor- nia, said Friday. Previously, Nunes and Schiff had held joint news conferences. Now what are becoming daily briefings are being done separately. Nunes apologized to Dem- ocrats on his committee on Thursday and promised to share the information he had with them. As of Fri- day, Schiff said the informa- tion had not been provided. Daniel Jones, former chief investigator for the Senate intelligence committee who now runs his own investi- gative advisory firm, said Nunes'handlingofallofthis has been "bizarre." "One of the key priorities of any investigation is to maintain its legitimacy and integrity," Jones said. "You simply can't have the chair- man of the investigation re- portingtooneofthepossible targets of the investigation." Schiff said cancelling Tuesday's hearing was a "se- rious mistake," especially, he said, after Americans bene- fited so much from the com- mittee's hearing on Monday. That hearing, Schiff said, "gave the public a real glimpse at why this is so sig- nificant, but we also heard for the first time that the FBI is doing a counterintel- ligence investigation that involves associates of the Trump campaign." Nunes' office said the White House had "no in- put in the decision" to can- cel Tuesday's hearing in which the former directors of national intelligence and the CIA and the former act- ing attorney general had al- ready agreed to publicly tes- tify. Nunes' spokesman, Jack Langer,saidthecancellation wasmoreofapostponement and done because "we have additional questions arising fromMonday'shearing"that lawmakers wanted to ask in a classified setting. A new date has not been set. In the committee's first hearing, Manafort's name came up 28 times. Later that day, White House spokes- man Sean Spicer tried to downplay Manafort's role in the Trump campaign. On Thursday, the AP re- ported that the U.S. govern- mentobtainedrecordsofoff- shore financial transactions involving Manafort as part of a federal anti-corruption probe into his work in East- ern Europe. In a statement released Friday, Manafort's spokes- man, Jason Maloni, said Manafort had agreed to talk with House commit- tee members to specifi- cally "provide information voluntarily regarding re- cent allegations about Rus- sian interference in the elec- tion." When asked whether Manafort would agree to be interviewed about his past work as a political consul- tant in eastern Europe, Ma- loni said that the interview would be about Russian in- terference in the election. Manafort, who was work- ingin2005asapoliticalcon- sultantinUkraine,pitcheda wide-ranging political influ- encecampaigntoaluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally, and even- tually signed a $10 million annual contract, according business records and people familiar with the payments. In a statement to the AP earlier this week, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska, but denied that the work had been to advance Russia's interests. Manafort is one of several Trump associates investiga- tors are looking at for pos- sible coordination with the Russians during the cam- paign. On Thursday and Fri- day, Trump adviser Carter Page and Trump associate Roger Stone volunteered to speak to the committee as well. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Wash- ington University who has written extensively about separation of powers, said there has always been a "murky line" between Con- gress and the White House when they're controlled by the same party, and he said he doesn't think Nunes has crossed that line. However, the intelligence commit- tees, Turley said, have al- ways been seen as the least partisan, and it's important that they maintain that rep- utation. INVESTIGATION TrumpcampaignchairofferstotalktoHousepanelonRussia J.SCOTTAPPLEWHITE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Friday. By Robert Burns The Associated Press WASHINGTON Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters have encountered light resis- tance in northern Syria af- ter U.S. pilots airlifted them into combat, an American officer said Friday, suggest- ing the operation caught Islamic State militants by surprise. The airlift was the first of its kind in Syria, designed to kick-start an offensive to recapture IS-held ter- ritory west of Raqqa, the extremist group's self-de- clared capital. The targets: The Tabqa Dam on the Eu- phrates River, the nearby town of Tabqa and an air- field. The goal: To seal off Raqqa's western ap- proaches before a planned offensive to recapture that city. Col. Joseph Scrocca, spokesman in Baghdad for the U.S.-led coalition fight- ing IS in Syria and Iraq, said the U.S.-backed forces have used boats on Lake Assad to bring in rein- forcements as well as heavy equipment and armored ve- hicles. They are progressing "without serious opposi- tion," Scrocca said in an email exchange. Asked to elaborate, he said this "in- dicates that ISIS was not ready for" the arrival of large numbers of the U.S.- backed rebels known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. "Thus, any ISIS that were in the area got out of there pretty quick when faced with the overwhelm- ing numbers," he said. "I expect they will reinforce though, and there will be some tough days ahead as the force gets closer to the airfield and city." Scrocca said U.S. Ma- rines continue to provide artillery support for the forces while Apache attack helicopters target IS posi- tions around the dam. U.S. troops haven't en- gaged in ground combat. But the new offensive sug- gests the Trump adminis- tration is taking an increas- ingly aggressive approach as it readies the Raqqa as- sault. CIVIL WAR US-aided fighters face little resistance in Syrian operation (530) 527-1000 visit us at: www.redbluffroundup.com Likeusonfacebook RODEO AMERICA'S ORIGINAL EXTREME SPORT! 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