He resigned after ‘misleading’ VP Pence about the contents of his phone call with Russia.
Congress should immediately probe the weeks-long gap when the White House knew of Gen. Michael Flynn’s Russia ties but let him stay on the job as National Security Adviser, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said Tuesday.
Smith, restrained during the turmoil of President Trump’s early days in office, had much to say after Flynn’s Monday night resignation as National Security Adviser.
“These events raise grave questions about who in the White House knew about Flynn’s vulnerability to blackmail and exploitation by the Russian government, and when they knew about it,” said Smith, using a phrase made famous during the Watergate scandal.
“If anyone in the White House knew about Flynn’s vulnerability and chose not to act, they exercised inexcusably poor judgment that put the security of our country at enormous risk,” continued Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “What was the advice the White House counsel’s office gave in this matter, and whom did they give it to?”
The questions demand a “full investigation” of events that “could undermine the national security of the United States,” Smith argued.
He won’t get that investigation.
House Speaker Paul Ryan praised Trump for deciding to “ask for his (Flynn’s) resignation” at a briefing on Tuesday, but dodged revelations that the White House was told weeks ago that Flynn may have been compromised and was a security threat.
The Republicans who rule Congress have been slow to face up to the chaos surrounding a new Republican presidency, and its growing unpopularity.
They are beginning to feel a little heat.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan tosses cold water on calls for an investigation of ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s Russia ties, and when the White House knew about them. “I’m not going to prejudge any of the circumstances surrounding this.” .
House Speaker Paul Ryan tosses cold water on calls for an investigation of ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s Russia ties, and when the White House knew about them. “I’m not going to prejudge any of
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., was drowned out by shouts of “Save Our Health Care!” at a Martin Luther King Day event in Spokane last month. About 100 protesters gathered outside McMorris Rodgers’ Spokane office on Monday. McMorris Rodgers is not known for meeting or listening to those who disagree with her.
Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., did speak out last week, saying the Trump immigration order had “disrupted lives” and that they way it was developed and implemented “did not uphold” America’s values.
Otherwise, GOP lawmakers are keeping a low profile. The state’s four Republican House members are not holding town meetings over the Presidents Day recess. Nor has a single schedule of events arrived in the email of any Washington reporter.
The situation was different four decades ago during the Watergate scandal that forced President Nixon’s resignation.
Then-Rep. Joel Pritchard, R-Wash., Seattle’s GOP congressman, made himself consistently available to constituents upset at Nixon’s transgressions.
Attorney General (later Sen.) Slade Gorton was one of the earliest Republicans to call for Nixon’s resignation, doing so before the conservative, (then) all-male audience of the Downtown Seattle Rotary Club.
A few Senate Republicans have begun to demand answers about the Flynn-Russia connection.
“I’m open to looking at a way to make sure all of us and the American people understand everything that’s occurred relative to (Russia’s) nefarious activities,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, demanded to know whether Flynn called Russia’s ambassador — and talked about sanctions — on orders from above.
“Did they try to engage the Russians before they were in office? Was this part of a continuing pattern between the Trump people and Russia?” Graham asked.
But critical Senate Republicans have, so far, offered just words. House Republicans have offered silence, despite their copious and fruitless Benghazi, Planned Parenthood, and Hillary Clinton email investigations.
About the only words Tuesday came from Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Nunes offered fulsome tribute to Flynn for a “life spent strengthening our national security.”
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who also sits on the House Armed Services Committee, had a different reaction, saying:
“It is outrageous that Congressional Republicans continue to sit on their hands in the face of what is merely the latest evidence of this administration’s cozy relationship with Russia.”
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