ANGRY DEMS URGENTLY PUSHING
Flynn subpoenaed for docs by Senate Intelligence Committee
The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed former national security adviser Michael Flynn after he refused to comply with an initial request last month, as the ongoing investigation into Russian campaign meddling threatened to consume Washington.
“The subpoena requests documents relevant to the Committee’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election,” a joint statement from U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican of North Carolina, and Mark Warner, a Democrat of Virginia, the committee chairmen, stated yesterday.
“The Committee first requested these documents in an April 28, 2017 letter to Lieutenant General Flynn, but he declined, through counsel, to cooperate with the Committee’s request,” they added.
Flynn’s ties to Russia are being scrutinized after he was fired less than a month into the job after the White House claimed he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
Flynn’s attorney, who had previously claimed that he “had a story to tell,” declined comment last night.
The ongoing saga only adds to the political drama playing out after FBI Director James B. Comey was abruptly fired on Tuesday. The scandal threatened to overshadow important Trump agenda items, such as passing a replacement health care plan in the Senate, and tackling tax reform.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters yesterday Comey had “essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the Department of Justice” when he bypassed then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and held his own press conference to announce the conclusion of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server last year.
Comey maintains he had little choice after Lynch had been compromised from a secret meeting with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac.
Comey, meanwhile, has been invited to testify privately before the Senate Intelligence Committee next week.
There were also reports yesterday that Comey had requested more resources for the FBI’s investigation just days before he was fired.
Asked whether Trump knew of the request, Sanders told reporters: “Not that I’m aware of.”
The House and FBI are also investigating Russian election meddling, including any ties to the Trump campaign.
Trump himself has made few public comments, outside of Twitter, about the firing, but is expected to sit down with NBC News’ Lester Holt this afternoon.