Senate rejects Obama testimony on Russia probe

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday (Friday in Manila) rejected United States President Donald Trump’s demand that his predecessor, Barack Obama, should be called to testify before Congress on the origins of the socalled Russia investigation.

“I think it’d be a bad precedent to compel a former president to come before the Congress,” Graham, a close ally of Trump, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That would open up a can of worms, and for a variety of reasons, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

But Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced on Thursday that the panel will start hearings in June on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) investigation into alleged Russian election interference and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, Trump tagged Graham, urging him to ask Obama to provide testimony about what the incumbent said “the biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA, by far.”

Trump and his conservative allies have recently ramped up attacks against the Obama administration, after the Department of Justice’s controversial move to drop its case against Michael Flynn, a senior advisor to his 2016 campaign and his administration’s first national security adviser.

Flynn admitted in December 2017 that he lied to the FBI about his discussions, including US sanctions against Russia, with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, but has since sought to withdraw that plea, claiming that he was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct.

Criminal charges against Flynn became part of the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, which Trump has repeatedly called a witch hunt and hoax. Russia has repeatedly denied meddling in US elections.

On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers released a list of names declassified by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, which showed that former vice president Joe Biden and other top Obama officials requested the “unmasking” of Flynn’s name from an intelligence report.

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