Cummings: ‘There is an air of deception’ in White House

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said early Wednesday that he believes “there is a lot of deception” in the White House regarding alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. 

“Keep in mind, the president told us initially that no, none of his people had had contact with the Russians,” the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee told CNN’s “New Day.” 

{mosads}“That’s what he told us. And then we found everybody had contact. And so there’s a lot here.”

Cummings’s comments come just days after he sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) saying the panel has obtained documents appearing to indicate former national security adviser Michael Flynn “lied to investigators who interviewed him in 2016 as a part of his security clearance renewal.”

Flynn told investigators that “U.S. companies” had paid for a 2015 trip he took to Russia, Cummings wrote, adding that the committee found documentation showing Russian-state media outlet RT paid for the trip. 

Cummings said the Republican response to the letter has been “radio silence.”

“If I were advising people in this case, I would tell almost anybody who had a lot to do with the transition, they might want to start looking for a lawyer,” he said.