As the political and media circus surround Gen. Michael Flynn’s resignation as national security advisor intensifies, more and more questions are being asked about President Donald Trump and his administration’s alleged Russian ties. And not only coming from Democrats in Congress but by fellow Republicans in the Senate who are demanding Flynn be questioned about the nature of his inappropriate behavior with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. That, and the precise nature of the Trump team’s connections to the Kremlin — if any such ties actually exist.
According to CNN, Sen. Roy Blunt of the Senate Intelligence Committee said, “Everybody needs that investigation to happen,” and that his committee “has been given the principle responsibility to look into this.” Fellow Republican Senators like John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham expressed similar calls to action, but the tune currently being sung by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chafettz isn’t quite the same. Per comments made to reporters Tuesday morning, Chafettz felt probing the Flynn matter was unnecessary since it was “taking care of itself.” Sen. Orrin Hatch echoed Chaffetz’s sentiments, saying he “[thought] highly” of Flynn and called him a “hero of this country for many years.”
As for Rep. Devin Nunes, the House Intelligence Committee chairman admitted the group would likely pursue an investigation of the Flynn matter — albeit one focusing on the leaks that plagued his short tenure with the administration, and not with his alleged misconduct. Per the Washington Post:
“I expect for the FBI to tell me what is going on, and they better have a good answer… The big problem I see here is that you have an American citizen who had his phone calls recorded.”
Trump expressed similar concerns regarding the leaks on Twitter, saying “the real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington.” Would similar instances of supposed phone recordings occur, the president asked, while he dealt with North Korea and other foreign powers during ultra-secretive national security meetings?
The unintended irony of Trump’s tweet notwithstanding, Nunes’ comments came with their own baggage as the representative stated, “it just seems like there’s a lot of nothing there” when he was asked about Flynn’s issues on Monday. Nunes also said he was “very comfortable” with Flynn advising Trump on Russia since he “knows of the danger that Putin poses” to the United States.
(Via Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Hill and CNN)