WASHINGTON -- The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, has asked President Donald Trump's political organization to gather and produce all Russia-related documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign's launch in June 2015, according to two people briefed on the request.
The letter from the Senate arrived at Trump's campaign committee last week and was addressed to the group's treasurer.
Since then, some former staff members have been notified and asked to cooperate, the people said. They were not authorized to speak publicly.
The demand follows a Senate request in February for the White House and Justice Department agencies to preserve documents.
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Dozens of former staff members are expected to be contacted in the coming days to make sure they are aware of what they are required to produce and how to submit those documents, the people added.
The letter was signed by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the Senate committee's chairman, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the committee's ranking Democrat. Spokesmen for Burr and Warner declined to comment.
The request to Trump's political operatives marks the first time Trump's official campaign structure has been drawn into the Senate committee's ongoing bipartisan investigation. That investigation is separate from the federal probe being led by the Justice Department's special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
In recent months, several Trump campaign associates, such as Roger Stone and Carter Page, have been contacted by Senate investigators, but the campaign itself had not been asked to preserve and produce materials.
Trump's campaign committee is now led by former deputy campaign manager Michael Glassner and John Pence, a nephew of Vice President Mike Pence. It is based in New York at Trump Tower. Glassner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A White House spokesman had no immediate comment.
Information for this article was contributed by John Wagner and Karoun Demirjian of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/27/2017