Elaine Kamarck, of the Brookings Institution says "we're pretty much at the end of this process" as she discussed the next steps in the special prosecutors Russia probe.

Kamarack, Senior fellow in the Governance Studies program as well as the Director of the Center for Effective Public Management , said on Tuesday that "The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors."

In a related story The Associated Press reports that President Donald Trump has been calling the Russia probe a witch hunt for two years.

But now, Trump and his allies are starting to see it as something potentially very different: a political opportunity.

Trump has grown increasingly confident that special counsel Robert Mueller's report will produce no clear evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and his election campaign.

A change is also underway among congressional Democrats, who had believed the report would offer damning evidence

Kamarack says "We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment."

Washington - 19 March 2019

1.Wide shot of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro walking out of White House into Rose Garden

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"It's not often that a president is subject to a special counsel and that means often that the findings of a special counsel could lead to something very dramatic like impeachment. Or it could just turn out to be a bunch of nothing. And so everybody was interested in this. Everybody was excited about it. The president himself was furious about it. But this is a big deal. We don't generally have investigations like this of sitting presidents."

3. Side shot of Trump speaking

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors, which is the constitutional issue for impeachment, and so we're sort of down to the end game here. I mean it looks like there was a rapid string of indictments, trials, etc. It's possible that one or more of the president's children or in-laws could get indicted but it's, we're pretty much at the end of this process."

5. Trump speaking

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The issue, though, is did the House and Senate, did the intelligence committees when they were controlled by Republicans ignore important pieces of evidence? The Democrats think they did. And so the Democrats will have to start their own investigation. They may find nothing as well."

Washington - 25 February 2019

7. STILL - The Capitol is seen in Washington as Congress returns to work following a week-long recess. A top House Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has threatened to call special counsel Robert Mueller to Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and sue the Trump administration if the full report on Mueller's Russia investigation is not made public.

Washington - 06 March 2019

8. STILL - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, of California, left, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., return to hear Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, testify before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill

Washington - 19 March 2019

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there, the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment? Now, Nancy Pelosi has said, wisely I think, that probably not that. There's just not unless there's some blockbuster finding in the Muller report or someplace else. Probably not because bet we're almost at 2020. Let, it's cleaner, easier for democracy to let the voters decide."

Washington - 06 March 2019

10. STILL - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., with Ranking Member Doug Collins

Washington - 19 March 2019

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"This investigation has taken place simultaneously with a very chaotic presidency and with a separate investigation into Donald Trump's business empire. Now it may not be impeachable to be a corrupt businessman. All you have to do is look at the Deutsche Bank story in today's (New York) Times and you can see that that's that's going to be a big story. But maybe it's not impeachable but it sure isn't desirable."

12. STILL - President Donald Trump walks along the Colonnade of the White House, towards the Rose Garden with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Elaine Kamarck, of the Brookings Institution says "we're pretty much at the end of this process" as she discussed the next steps in the special prosecutors Russia probe.

Kamarack, Senior fellow in the Governance Studies program as well as the Director of the Center for Effective Public Management , said on Tuesday that "The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors."

In a related story The Associated Press reports that President Donald Trump has been calling the Russia probe a witch hunt for two years.

But now, Trump and his allies are starting to see it as something potentially very different: a political opportunity.

Trump has grown increasingly confident that special counsel Robert Mueller's report will produce no clear evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and his election campaign.

A change is also underway among congressional Democrats, who had believed the report would offer damning evidence

Kamarack says "We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment."

Washington - 19 March 2019

1.Wide shot of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro walking out of White House into Rose Garden

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"It's not often that a president is subject to a special counsel and that means often that the findings of a special counsel could lead to something very dramatic like impeachment. Or it could just turn out to be a bunch of nothing. And so everybody was interested in this. Everybody was excited about it. The president himself was furious about it. But this is a big deal. We don't generally have investigations like this of sitting presidents."

3. Side shot of Trump speaking

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors, which is the constitutional issue for impeachment, and so we're sort of down to the end game here. I mean it looks like there was a rapid string of indictments, trials, etc. It's possible that one or more of the president's children or in-laws could get indicted but it's, we're pretty much at the end of this process."

5. Trump speaking

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The issue, though, is did the House and Senate, did the intelligence committees when they were controlled by Republicans ignore important pieces of evidence? The Democrats think they did. And so the Democrats will have to start their own investigation. They may find nothing as well."

Washington - 25 February 2019

7. STILL - The Capitol is seen in Washington as Congress returns to work following a week-long recess. A top House Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has threatened to call special counsel Robert Mueller to Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and sue the Trump administration if the full report on Mueller's Russia investigation is not made public.

Washington - 06 March 2019

8. STILL - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, of California, left, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., return to hear Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, testify before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill

Washington - 19 March 2019

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there, the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment? Now, Nancy Pelosi has said, wisely I think, that probably not that. There's just not unless there's some blockbuster finding in the Muller report or someplace else. Probably not because bet we're almost at 2020. Let, it's cleaner, easier for democracy to let the voters decide."

Washington - 06 March 2019

10. STILL - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., with Ranking Member Doug Collins

Washington - 19 March 2019

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"This investigation has taken place simultaneously with a very chaotic presidency and with a separate investigation into Donald Trump's business empire. Now it may not be impeachable to be a corrupt businessman. All you have to do is look at the Deutsche Bank story in today's (New York) Times and you can see that that's that's going to be a big story. But maybe it's not impeachable but it sure isn't desirable."

12. STILL - President Donald Trump walks along the Colonnade of the White House, towards the Rose Garden with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Elaine Kamarck, of the Brookings Institution says "we're pretty much at the end of this process" as she discussed the next steps in the special prosecutors Russia probe.

Kamarack, Senior fellow in the Governance Studies program as well as the Director of the Center for Effective Public Management , said on Tuesday that "The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors."

In a related story The Associated Press reports that President Donald Trump has been calling the Russia probe a witch hunt for two years.

But now, Trump and his allies are starting to see it as something potentially very different: a political opportunity.

Trump has grown increasingly confident that special counsel Robert Mueller's report will produce no clear evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and his election campaign.

A change is also underway among congressional Democrats, who had believed the report would offer damning evidence

Kamarack says "We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment."

Washington - 19 March 2019

1.Wide shot of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro walking out of White House into Rose Garden

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"It's not often that a president is subject to a special counsel and that means often that the findings of a special counsel could lead to something very dramatic like impeachment. Or it could just turn out to be a bunch of nothing. And so everybody was interested in this. Everybody was excited about it. The president himself was furious about it. But this is a big deal. We don't generally have investigations like this of sitting presidents."

3. Side shot of Trump speaking

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors, which is the constitutional issue for impeachment, and so we're sort of down to the end game here. I mean it looks like there was a rapid string of indictments, trials, etc. It's possible that one or more of the president's children or in-laws could get indicted but it's, we're pretty much at the end of this process."

5. Trump speaking

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The issue, though, is did the House and Senate, did the intelligence committees when they were controlled by Republicans ignore important pieces of evidence? The Democrats think they did. And so the Democrats will have to start their own investigation. They may find nothing as well."

Washington - 25 February 2019

7. STILL - The Capitol is seen in Washington as Congress returns to work following a week-long recess. A top House Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has threatened to call special counsel Robert Mueller to Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and sue the Trump administration if the full report on Mueller's Russia investigation is not made public.

Washington - 06 March 2019

8. STILL - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, of California, left, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., return to hear Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, testify before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill

Washington - 19 March 2019

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there, the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment? Now, Nancy Pelosi has said, wisely I think, that probably not that. There's just not unless there's some blockbuster finding in the Muller report or someplace else. Probably not because bet we're almost at 2020. Let, it's cleaner, easier for democracy to let the voters decide."

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP Clients Only

Washington - 06 March 2019

10. STILL - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., with Ranking Member Doug Collins

Washington - 19 March 2019

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"This investigation has taken place simultaneously with a very chaotic presidency and with a separate investigation into Donald Trump's business empire. Now it may not be impeachable to be a corrupt businessman. All you have to do is look at the Deutsche Bank story in today's (New York) Times and you can see that that's that's going to be a big story. But maybe it's not impeachable but it sure isn't desirable."

12. STILL - President Donald Trump walks along the Colonnade of the White House, towards the Rose Garden with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

The report by BuzzFeed News, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, says that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump on the Moscow project. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report.

The House intelligence committee chairman Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff said he will do what is necessary to confirm the report.

The story also says, citing the sources, that Cohen told special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump personally instructed him to lie about the timing of the project in order to obscure Trump's involvement.

The BuzzFeed story says that Mueller's investigators learned about Trump's directive "through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents." The report says that Cohen then acknowledged Trump's instructions when he was interviewed by the Mueller team.

Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis didn't weigh in one way or the other whether this story was true but Lanny Davis simply said that "Michael Cohen is is someone who is full of regret for his longtime employment with President Trump. He worked for him for about a decade," according to AP White House reporter Jonathan Lemire.

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, scoffed at the report, saying in a statement to the Associated Press "that if this story was true I have the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you and suggested that it was not the case. This had never occurred."

On Twitter Friday morning, Trump charged that Michael Cohen is "Lying to reduce his jail time!" even though he's already been sentenced. On Fox News Channel, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said that taking the story seriously was "absolutely ludicrous," but repeatedly refused to deny the central allegation that Trump directed Cohen to lie.

Cohen already pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating the Trump Tower project in Moscow on Trump's behalf during the heat of his presidential campaign. The charge was brought by Mueller and was the result of his cooperation with that probe.

He was then sentenced in December to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to conceal his boss' alleged sexual affairs, telling a judge that he agreed time and again to cover up Trump's "dirty deeds" out of "blind loyalty."

Cohen is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee Feb. 7, where he will likely be questioned about the report.

++SOUNDBITES PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY A WHITE FLASH++

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"Late Thursday night BuzzFeed News broke a story that reports, according to some of their sources, that President Trump instructed his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to lie on his behalf. To lie to Congress about the president's involvement with a real estate deal in Russia. Now it should be pointed out very carefully, The Associated Press has not confirmed this reporting yet. No other mainstream news outlet has as well. But lawmakers are responding. And It is certainly a major story today, Friday."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: New York - 12 December 2018

2. Michael Cohen exiting court after being sentenced to prison

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington - 29 November 2018

3. President Donald Trump walks out to talk to reporters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"The new story suggests that the Donald Trump's involvement with the project did not end in 2015 or early 2016 as he initially had said but instead continued that the president and his family members including his adult children Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Junior who also worked at Trump Organization were getting updates throughout 2016. And that after the election, when Donald Trump was then president-elect he instructed Michael Cohen to lie about this to try to minimize Donald Trump's own involvement with the project. The BuzzFeed story goes on to say that as Michael Cohen was preparing to testify before Congress he again talked to the White House and Donald Trump who said to lie about that project."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Cleveland, Ohio - 21 July 2016

5. President Donald Trump at the RNC rehearsal, Ivanka and Paul Manfort off to the side

POOL

ARCHIVE: Fletcher, North Carolina - 21 October 2016

6. Donald Trump walks into campaign rally

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: New York - 12 December 2018

7. Cohen exiting court after being sentenced to three years in prison

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"If this is true then this means the president urged a witness to lie under oath before Congress, which would appear to be a pretty clear example of obstruction of justice which of course is a significant not potentially criminal charge but perhaps impeachable offense."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington - 29 November 2018

9. President Trump walks away from talking to press

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 18 January 2019

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"Democratic lawmakers are seizing upon this. Adam Schiff who's the new chair of the House Intelligence Committee and others say that the House, the Congress will investigate these charges and if they feel that if true, I believe just phrase were, this would be the most serious offense yet. He suggests that these are the some of the most serious allegation the president currently faces and it is something that will stir up talk of impeachment."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press White House Reporter:

"So, it should be pointed out that the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who's his lawyer for the Russia investigation gave a statement to me at the Associated Press saying that if this story was true I have basically I have the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you and suggested that it was not the case. This had never occurred."

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff postponed a meeting to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department after the department agreed to turn over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The House Judiciary Committee recently voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after negotiations broke down with the department over similar materials.

Schiff said the department "will begin turning over to the committee twelve categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production."

"Our first priority is to get to the bottom of what the counter-intelligence has to show, whether there are any steps that our committee or the Congress needs to take to protect the country," he said.

Schiff also said the subpoena that was issued regarding the attorney general will remain until all the documents are received.

And he says he still expects former White House Counsel Don McGahn and Robert Mueller to testify before the committee.

Trump's former White House counsel is the most-cited witness in Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation report, recounting the president's attempts to interfere with the probe.

+++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES+++

Washington, DC - 22 May 2019

1. Wide of Rep. Adam Schiff walking toward reporters in hallway

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative (California), Chair of House Intelligence Committee:

"So, late last night the Department of Justice agreed to begin a rolling production of documents to our committee, starting with initial set of twelve categories of documents we had requested that contain intelligence and counterintelligence information that was alluded to in the report. These are part of the underlying documents that we've been seeking. So that production should begin this week. We should have the full 12 sets of documents by the end of next week. This does not obviate the need for the subpoena. We're going to keep that in force until we get all the documents that we're seeking. But that production is going to start now, and we hope that it will continue by the department."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative (California), Chair of House Intelligence Committee:

"This, I should also mention, however is no substitute, in any way shape or form, for the appearance of Bob Mueller before our committee and the Judiciary Committee. It's no substitute for the appearance of Don McGahn and the other witnesses that have been subpoenaed to come into committee. But we are pleased that we are finally going to start receiving documents that we are entitled to from the Department of Justice."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative (California), Chair of House Intelligence Committee:

"The entire FBI probe began as a counterintelligence investigation. We have yet to determine what that investigation found, in terms of counter-intelligence findings, or even whether it is ongoing. But those are issues that potentially could compromise our national security. So, our first priority is to get to the bottom of what the counter-intelligence has to show whether there are any steps that our committee or the Congress needs to take to protect the country. And that's the first use that we'll put it to, but this is part of our continuing investigation into Russia's interference in our affairs."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative (California), Chair of House Intelligence Committee:

"We have every expectation that he is going to appear before our committee as well as the Judiciary Committee. It's important that that testimony, as much as possible, be in open session. So we're going to insist on that being the case as well. (Moves to allow colleague to go behind him.) Let me let my colleague to get by. But it's also vitally important that the department not try to censor what he can say to our committee. It is one thing to have him testify in public it's another if the Justice Department to sit behind him and tell him that he cannot answer this question, or that question, or do more than just read his own report. That won't fly. There is, I think, the most important part of this would be accomplished. There were certainly certain aspects involving classified information."

6. Wide of Schiff exiting

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff postponed a meeting to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department after the department agreed to turn over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The House Judiciary Committee recently voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after negotiations broke down with the department over similar materials.

Schiff said the department "will begin turning over to the committee twelve categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production."

"Our first priority is to get to the bottom of what the counter-intelligence has to show, whether there are any steps that our committee or the Congress needs to take to protect the country," he said.

Schiff also said the subpoena that was issued regarding the attorney general will remain until all the documents are received.

And he says he still expects former White House Counsel Don McGahn and Robert Mueller to testify before the committee.

Trump's former White House counsel is the most-cited witness in Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation report, recounting the president's attempts to interfere with the probe.

Washington, DC - 22 May 2019

+++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES+++

1. Wide of Rep. Adam Schiff walking toward reporters in hallway

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"So, late last night the Department of Justice agreed to begin a rolling production of documents to our committee, starting with initial set of twelve categories of documents we had requested that contain intelligence and counterintelligence information that was alluded to in the report. These are part of the underlying documents that we've been seeking. So that production should begin this week. We should have the full 12 sets of documents by the end of next week. This does not obviate the need for the subpoena. We're going to keep that in force until we get all the documents that we're seeking. But that production is going to start now, and we hope that it will continue by the department."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"This, I should also mention, however is no substitute, in any way shape or form, for the appearance of Bob Mueller before our committee and the Judiciary Committee. It's no substitute for the appearance of Don McGahn and the other witnesses that have been subpoenaed to come into committee. But we are pleased that we are finally going to start receiving documents that we are entitled to from the Department of Justice."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"The entire FBI probe began as a counterintelligence investigation. We have yet to determine what that investigation found, in terms of counter-intelligence findings, or even whether it is ongoing. But those are issues that potentially could compromise our national security. So, our first priority is to get to the bottom of what the counter-intelligence has to show whether there are any steps that our committee or the Congress needs to take to protect the country. And that's the first use that we'll put it to, but this is part of our continuing investigation into Russia's interference in our affairs."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"We have every expectation that he is going to appear before our committee as well as the Judiciary Committee. It's important that that testimony, as much as possible, be in open session. So we're going to insist on that being the case as well. (Moves to allow colleague to go behind him.) Let me let my colleague to get by. But it's also vitally important that the department not try to censor what he can say to our committee. It is one thing to have him testify in public it's another if the Justice Department to sit behind him and tell him that he cannot answer this question, or that question, or do more than just read his own report. That won't fly. There is, I think, the most important part of this would be accomplished. There were certainly certain aspects involving classified information."

5. Wide of Schiff exiting

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff postponed a meeting to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department after the department agreed to turn over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The House Judiciary Committee recently voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after negotiations broke down with the department over similar materials.

Schiff said the department "will begin turning over to the committee twelve categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production."

"Our first priority is to get to the bottom of what the counter-intelligence has to show, whether there are any steps that our committee or the Congress needs to take to protect the country," he said.

Schiff also said the subpoena that was issued regarding the attorney general will remain until all the documents are received.

And he says he still expects former White House Counsel Don McGahn and Robert Mueller to testify before the committee.

Trump's former White House counsel is the most-cited witness in Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation report, recounting the president's attempts to interfere with the probe.

Washington, DC - 22 May 2019

+++WHITE FLASH BETWEEN SOUNDBITES+++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"So, late last night the Department of Justice agreed to begin a rolling production

of documents to our committee, starting with initial set of twelve categories of documents we had requested that contain intelligence and counterintelligence information that was alluded to in the (Mueller) report. These are part of the underlying documents that we've been seeking."

+++WHITE FLASH+++

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"This, I should also mention, however is no substitute, in any way shape or form, for the appearance of Bob Mueller before our committee and the Judiciary Committee.

+++WHITE FLASH+++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"It's important that that testimony, as much as possible, be in open session. So we're going to insist on that being the case as well.

+++WHITE FLASH+++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"But it's also vitally important that the department not tried to censor what he can say to our committee. It is one thing to have him testify in public. It's another if the Justice Department sits behind him and tell him that he cannot answer this question, or that question, or do more than just read his own report. That won't fly."

+++WHITE FLASH+++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House Intelligence Committee

"This does not obviate the need for the subpoena. We're going to keep that in force until we get all the documents that we're seeking. But that production is going to start now, and we hope that it will continue by the department."

+++WHITE FLASH+++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Adam Schiff, (D) California / Chairman House

"So, our first priority is to get to the bottom of what the counter-intelligence has to show whether there are any steps that our committee or the Congress needs to take to protect the country. And that's the first use that we'll put it to, but this is part of our continuing investigation into Russia's interference in our affairs."