Republicans won’t rush
Ryan urges party to push past politics
Congressional Republicans dug in Wednesday for a long investigation of President Trump amid reports this week that he shared sensitive intelligence information with the Russians and asked James Comey to shut down the FBI’s probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWis., said Wednesday he supports House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz’s request to acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe for copies of Comey’s memos documenting his conversations with Trump and any other notes, summaries or recordings of communication between them.
Chaffetz, R-Utah, tweeted Tuesday night, “I need to see (the Comey memo) sooner rather than later. I have my subpoena pen ready.”
Ryan said that investigation and inquiries by the House and Senate Intelligence committees should not be rushed despite the pressure of a 24-hour news cycle.
“Now is the time to gather all of the pertinent information,” Ryan said. “Our job is to be responsible, sober and concentrate on gathering the facts.”
Ryan added, “That obviously takes some time.”
“We can’t deal with speculation and innuendo,” he said. “And there’s clearly a lot of politics being played. Our job is to get the facts and to be sober about doing that.”
Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the panel’s senior Democrat, said Wednesday that they sent a letter to Comey asking him to appear before the committee for open and closed sessions. They sent a letter to McCabe seeking any memos or notes Comey prepared regarding any communication he had with senior White House and Justice Department officials related to investigations into Russia’s alleged efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Some Republicans in Congress openly criticized the president, including one who mentioned impeachment and another who raised the specter of Watergate.
Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., said Tuesday that if the allegations about Trump pressuring Comey are true, they are grounds for impeachment. Amash, who has consistently been critical of the president, was the first Republican lawmaker to raise impeachment publicly.
Though some rank-and-file Democrats have talked about impeachment, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has distanced himself from that call, saying it is too early to jump to conclusions without a thorough investigation.
Amash joined Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., in signing onto a Democrat-sponsored bill that would create an independent commission to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election. Other GOP lawmakers — Reps. Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Steve Knight of California, Darrell Issa of Califor- nia and Tom McClintock of California — have called for some type of independent investigations but have not signed onto any legislation. Most of them are up for re-election in districts Hillary Clinton won during the 2016 election.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., compared the growing scandals to Watergate. “I think we’ve seen this movie before. I think it appears at a point where it’s of Watergate size and scale. ... The shoes continue to drop, and every couple days, there’s a new aspect,” McCain was quoted as saying by The Daily Beast during a dinner in Washington on Tuesday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday that he wanted Comey to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 election. McCain and Graham have been critical of Trump and of Russia.
“I’m hopeful we can reach agreement in a bipartisan fashion on how to move forward in a professional manner,” Graham said. “The sooner Mr. Comey testifies publicly before the Judiciary Committee, the better for our nation. For all practical purposes, the political process will be ground to a halt by these allegations. ... I will follow the facts, wherever they may lead.”