President Trump again veers into House, Senate intel investigators’ lane
WASHINGTON—Impinging upon a congressional investigation for the second time this week, President Donald Trump backed his former national security adviser’s quest for immunity in return for testimony before lawmakers.
The president tweeted Friday morning that Michael Flynn, the retired three-star general who was fired by the Obama administration then forced to leave the Trump White House at the start of its fourth week, should seek the legal protection because the probes into ties between Russia and his campaign associates is a “witch hunt” being conducted by the media and Democrats “of historic proportion.”
For Trump, the tweet appeared an attempt to do two things: Give his former top aide, who some have said was among Trump’s closest campaign staffers, backing in his effort to be shielded from anything revealed during his testimony; and cast further doubts among his supporters in investigations of Russia’s 2016 election meddling being carried out by the House and Senate Intelligence committees.
“Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!” Trump said in the tweet. It came a day after Flynn reportedly asked the panels for immunity should he testify.
Trump decided in mid-February to ask for Flynn’s resignation after determining he could no longer trust his top security adviser after he misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his talks with Moscow’s ambassador to the U.S. before the Trump administration took power on Jan. 20. Flynn quit the White House on the evening of Feb. 13.
It was the second time in five days that Trump has used a morning social media post to weigh in on the intelligence panels’ probes.
On Monday night, the president used a twitter storm to criticize the House committee’s investigation into Russian meddling by question why the panel is not examining a decision that Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, was involved in that “allowed big Uranium to go to Russia.” “Why isn’t the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill & Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech …,” he tweeted. He also suggested the House Intelligence Committee look into the former secretary of state’s work for President Barack Obama as part of his failed “reset” of relations with Moscow, as well as former President Bill Clinton’s paid speeches in Russia.
Like on Monday night, Trump appears to have few—if any—concerns that presidential statements of any kind could taint the eventual results of one or both of the congressional probes.
Presidents before him have sought to avoid commenting on such investigations, leery of any perceptions that they might be using the powers of the office to influence sensitive endeavors of the legislative branch. To that end, Trump’s top spokesman, Sean Spicer, has cited the “separation of powers” concept when declining to answer reporters’ questions about the House and Senate investigations.