Castro also said he believed the plan could have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. “If this was an attempt to speed up the project or secure the project and make sure it got done, it could amount to bribery for an official of a foreign government and anyone who was part of that could be in violation of this federal statute,” he said.

California Rep. Eric Swalwell, another Democrat on the committee, said he wants it to investigate the plan as well. “Now we’re in a position where we can look at third-party communication records, third-party travel logs, third-party bank records, to see what was really going on in the background, and to further probe what the candidate’s knowledge was of the prospective deal and Moscow and the offer by the Russians to help him,” he said.

“We’re way beyond bribery,” he added. “If a candidate for president is offering a foreign adversary a $50 million-gift while that adversary through his own backchannels is offering support of the campaign, that’s betrayal at the highest level; that’s conspiracy.