Democrat on Intel Committee says people will go to jail for Trump-Russia collusion

House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said that he was confident that more than one person would be charged with criminal activity and sent to jail as a result of the investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government before the election.

He made the comments to Wolf Blitzer on CNN Tuesday.

"Certainly as all Americans have seen by now, quite a lot of smoke, the investigation is to determine whether there's a fire or not," he told Blitzer."

"Well have you seen any hard evidence of collusion yet?" Blitzer asked.

"I guess, I would say this," Joaquin answered, avoiding the main question, "that my impression is, I wouldn't be surprised after all of this is said and done, that some people end up in jail."

"Really?!" said Blitzer, who seemed taken back by the statement. "And how high does that go in your suspicion, and that's all we can call it right now."

"Well that's yet to be determined," he offered.

"You think some people are going to wind up in jail," Blitzer continued, "not just one individual, but people, plural, is that what you're saying?" Castro answered in the affirmative. "Do you want to elaborate on that, give us a little bit more," Blitzer asked, "because that's obviously a very intriguing statement."

"I wish I could but I can't at this time," Castro replied.

"But at this point you're confident that at least some Trump associates will end up in jail?" Blitzer repeated.

"If I was betting, I would say yes," Castro responded.

"Including some who are working in the new administration," Blitzer asked, "or people who worked, or advised the president during the campaign or during the transition?"

"As you can imagine Wolf, I'll have to comment on that later," Castro said, "But again, if someone asked my my impression, I would, my impression is that people will probably be charged, and I think that people probably will go to jail."

Trump has been accused by Democrats and other political opponents of having shady and possibly illegal interactions and ties to the Russian government from before the election, charges which he has completely denied.

Castro had already called on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to recuse himself from the investigation after questions were raised about his conduct in showing Trump information on wiretapping before he notified the committee.