Dems: ‘Crazy’ to trust GOP to investigate Flynn
House Democrats say they’ve lost faith in House GOP leaders to investigate former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia.
The Democrats are pointing in particular at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who said he won’t investigate Flynn’s discussion with a Russian diplomat, citing executive privilege, but wants to probe the leaks that led to Flynn’s ouster.
“Our colleague from California has said he doesn’t plan on doing an investigation, so I think to turn to the chairman who has already said he doesn’t want to do it is crazy,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday.
Flynn was ousted Monday night after revelations that he misled senior White House officials about the nature of his talks with Russia’s envoy to the U.S. during the transition period.
Behind House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democrats are urging the creation of a non-partisan, independent panel with subpoena power to investigate both Russia’s involvement in the November elections and potential conflicts of interest between the Trump White House and the Kremlin — an approach GOP leaders in both chambers have roundly rejected.
{mosads}Recent reports that the Trump campaign had regular contact with Russian officials, Pelosi said Wednesday, only highlight the need for that independent probe.
“The president is flirting with danger,” Pelosi said. “Let’s take [the probe] away from Congress and the White House, let’s put it in the hands of an independent commission.”
Nunes’s wholesale rejection of a Flynn probe, a position supported by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other top House Republicans, runs counter to the approach being adopted by GOP leaders in the Senate, where Republicans appear more open to expanding current investigations into Russian hacking to include Flynn’s relations to the Kremlin.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said this week that it’s “likely” Flynn would be called to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of that process.
Ryan, Nunes and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, disagree, saying the Flynn issue is one that’s already been handled by the White House.
“I think that situation has taken care of itself,” Chaffetz said Tuesday.
That approach has outraged Democrats, who are accusing the Republicans of ceding their constitutional duty as a check on the executive branch for the partisan purpose of protecting the president.
“Since when has it been the responsibility of the legislative branch to issue an executive privilege? That’s the White House,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Caucus.
“We’re a separate branch of government. We have a role to play, and they’re not playing it right now.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said he’ll be meeting with Nunes later Wednesday. Schiff said he’ll be asking the chairman to expand the probe to include an examination of Flynn’s conversations with Russian officials.
“If it’s going to be thorough, we’re going to have to look at Gen. Flynn,” Schiff said Wednesday. “We’re going to have to get those transcripts and we’re going to have to call him as a witness.”
Schiff said Nunes’s focus on the leaker, in lieu of the content of the leaks, de-emphasizes the greater threat to national security and obscures the notion that “Russia may have colluded with one of the campaigns.”
“The question of leaks is certainly implicated here, but there are far bigger fish to fry,” Schiff said.
“I would hate to see us go off on a tangent and lose sight of the object.”
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