Top Republican senators said Tuesday that Congress should probe the circumstances leading up to the resignation of President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, opening a new and potentially uncomfortable chapter in the uneasy relationship between Trump and congressional Republicans.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., vice chairman of the Senate GOP Conference and a member of the Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers ought to look at the matter as part of an existing probe into Russian meddling in the United States political system – a sensitive topic that has lingered over Republicans since Trump’s election win.
"I think in all likelihood it should be part of the intel committee’s review of what’s happened with Russia, yes," said Blunt. He added that he "certainly wasn’t kept informed" about the situation surrounding Flynn.
Blunt’s comments came at a tense moment when congressional Republicans are finding it increasingly difficult to defend Trump after a tempestuous start to his term has stoked frustration, fatigue and fear on Capitol Hill.
Democrats went further than Republicans, calling for the creation of a separate commission to scrutinize not only the latest revelations about Flynn but also whether they implicate other members of the Trump administration. Among their goals: to increase political pressure on Republicans to take more investigative action. Many Democrats and some Republicans have voiced concerns that the Trump administration is too cozy with the Russians.
Blunt told KTRS radio that the committee should talk to Flynn "very soon."
Trump knew for weeks that Michael Flynn misled VP Pence, White House says Julie Pace, Eric Tucker, Jill Colvin
President Donald Trump was told in late January that his top national security aide had misled his vice president, three weeks before Trump ousted adviser Michael Flynn amid a swirling public controversy over Flynn’s contacts with a Russian official, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.
Press…
President Donald Trump was told in late January that his top national security aide had misled his vice president, three weeks before Trump ousted adviser Michael Flynn amid a swirling public controversy over Flynn’s contacts with a Russian official, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.
Press…
(Julie Pace, Eric Tucker, Jill Colvin)
"I think we should look into it exhaustively so that at the end of this process, nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned, and shouldn’t reach conclusions before you have the information that you need to have to make those conclusions," Blunt said in the interview.
Flynn resigned late Monday following revelations of potentially illegal contacts with Russia and misleading statements about the communication to senior Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence.
The House and Senate Intelligence committees are currently conducting broad investigations into Russian involvement in the U.S. election, including the possibility of ties between Moscow and any candidates and their campaigns.
During a roll call vote Tuesday morning, an ad hoc bipartisan meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee convened on the chamber floor, with at least seven senators engaged in a long, animated discussion.
One participant, requesting anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said the group discussed the Flynn issue as it relates to the committee’s investigation into Russian cyberattacks during the 2016 elections. Several senators encouraging the chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to take a more aggressive posture toward the probe.
Burr was told, according to the participant, that if the intelligence panel did not step up, other committees would fill the void.
Burr has been less publicly aggressive than some Republicans, particularly Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who are launching their own inquiries on the Armed Services Committee. They have pushed, unsuccessfully so far, is for the creation of a special committee to handle an investigation into Russia and last year’s elections.
Burr later told reporters that he was working seriously on the issue. Democrats, meanwhile, used the latest Flynn news to call for a fully independent investigation, with a blue-ribbon commission of outside experts, to conduct the review.
Other Republicans expressed confidence that a full investigation would occur in some form.
"I think that there’s going to be a review of all of this, but what form it’s going to take, and when it happens, who’s involved, I think that remains to be seen," Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, a senior member of the Intelligence Committee, said after leaving the small huddle on the Senate floor.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former chairman of the panel, declined to say what she told Burr.
Lawmakers are frustrated with the administration for what they see as a series of blindsides – Flynn’s resignation being the most dramatic yet.
Republicans offered varying answers on whether Flynn should be called to appear before Congress. "I’d prefer to first see the evidence that was gathered," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla., another member of the Intelligence Committee.
Some Republicans were already looking ahead personnel options in the wake of Flynn’s departure. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the president should seek a national security adviser in the mold of Stephen Hadley or Brent Scowcroft.
In house, Republicans adopted a more hands-off posture.
"I’ll leave it to the administration to describe the circumstances surrounding what brought to this point," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the most significant question posed by the resignation of Flynn is why intelligence officials eavesdropped on his calls with the Russian ambassador and later leaked information on those calls to the press.
"I expect for the FBI to tell me what is going on, and they better have a good answer," Nunes said. "The big problem I see here is that you have an American citizen who had his phone calls recorded."
Although it remains unclear whether Flynn was being monitored for any reason, his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were intercepted because the Russians’ calls are routinely monitored.
Both chambers and the White House were represented during Tuesday’s weekly Senate GOP policy lunch. Pence and Ryan planned to attend and speak, according to their offices.
Many congressional Republicans have endured Trump’s unpredictability – including his criticism of the federal judiciary and an immigration order that caught them by surprise and drew intense national blowback and a legal rebuke – because they believe he holds the key to passing the laws they have talked about for years.
"Conservatives do and should view him as their current best chance to get conservative policy enacted in to law because that was the grand bargain made," said Rory Cooper, a Republican strategist who opposed Trump’s candidacy for president. "The idea was they would overlook certain behaviors and distractions from President Trump in anticipation of being able to have a willing signature on the other end of conservative legislation."
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, a conservative group of House members, put it this way: "I would rather accomplish something with distractions than not accomplish anything with smooth sailing."
But on some of the major issues Republicans have vowed to tackle, including repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act and imposing tax cuts through comprehensive tax reform, there remains a glaring lack of consensus, leaving uncertainty about when and how things will get done.
In the meantime, a growing list of controversies has made it harder for some Republicans to shrug off the president’s behavior. One example: Trump’s decision to effectively turn his Mar-a-Lago Club terrace into an open-air situation room.
"You can’t make it up," laughed McCain when asked about the Mar-a-Lago story as he stepped into an elevator Monday.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: "I don’t know if it’s improper. How about untoward. That’s a good word, right?"
And Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he hadn’t heard about the weekend incident in which Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed a North Korean missile test with other club members nearby.
"Yeah. Huh," Corker said when brought up to speed by a reporter. "Thanks." Then he walked away.
Some of Trump’s top allies say they have had to deal with blowback from fellow Republicans reminiscent of the skepticism that surfaced during the campaign.
"It’s been concerns. I don’t want to overdo it," said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. "But of course there has been some." He did not specify who was complaining.
Meanwhile, amid speculation about further White House staffing changes beyond Flynn, Republican lawmakers expressed growing anxiety about the fate of the president’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus. Priebus is seen by many on Capitol Hill as a stabilizing force in a turbulent operation.
"A bunch of us feel the need to come to the guy’s defense. But does that help him or not? We just don’t know – we just don’t know," said one Republican senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity to frankly convey the feelings of several of his colleagues. "But yeah, we worry about that."
Some in the president’s orbit have been critical of Priebus. Trump has defended Priebus, telling reporters Monday that he has done a "great" job.
On Flynn, Democrats are insisting that given the circumstances – and lingering questions about whether Trump was apprised of the substance of Flynn’s conversations with Russian authorities – further investigation is needed from an independent commission.
They are pointing an accusing finger at House committee chairs, whom they accuse of "stonewalling" and blatantly refusing to perform their oversight functions for fear of crossing a Republican administration.
No Republican has yet endorsed the Democrats’ call for an independent commission in light of the Flynn revelations – including McCain, who previously angled for one when the reports of Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election first surfaced.
Corker, meanwhile, argued that questioning the independent commission idea was not "stonewalling" because such processes can take years, and it was clear that the public wanted answers sooner.
The House and Senate intelligence committees announced weeks ago that they would conduct wide-ranging investigations of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, including whether there were any links between the Kremlin and candidates for U.S. office. But Flynn’s critical conversations with Kislyak took place during December – before executive privilege could apply, Democrats point out, but well after the elections were over.
In the House, Schiff said he has not yet discussed with Nunes whether the scope of the committee’s probe could be expanded to cover the transition period, though he noted "it ought to be a natural extension of what we do."
Over in the Senate, a similar tweak to plans would appear to be necessary to allow the Intelligence committee to examine Flynn’s contacts with Russian authorities, as many leading Republicans believe is necessary.
Corker suggested that it "would certainly be useful" to release the transcripts of Flynn’s conversations with Kisylak publicly. Schiff pointed out during a press conference Tuesday that the intelligence committee officials have not yet received transcripts of those conversations or tape recordings.
"Those I think are things I think we ought to get as part of the Gang of Eight," he said.
"Before they destroy them," Pelosi interjected.
The Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe, Mike DeBonis, Karen DeYoung, Greg Miller and Philip Rucker contributed to this report.
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