Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
White House under fire
Many in GOP in wait-see mode on stepped-up probes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s troubles deepened Wednesday as two congressional committees intensified their oversight, seeking memos and testimony from fired FBI Director James Comey.
The stepped-up investigations, along with the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller to serve as a special prosecutor, were signs that the crisis was not going away anytime soon.
But the probes also helped provide some political cover and breathing space for Republicans, who can now point to the formal inquiries as evidence of their action and a reason to reserve judgment until the investigations are complete.
Many Republicans continued to rally around the president.
“I don’t get all wee-wee’d up about this,” said Rep. Rod Blum, R-Iowa. “People in Iowa care about jobs.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he was not going to respond to “speculation or innuendo” from the torrent of allegations swirling around Trump.
“It is obvious there are some people out there who want to harm the president,” Ryan said after a meeting of House Republicans at GOP headquarters on Capitol Hill. “There are a lot of unanswered questions. The last thing I’m going to do is prejudge anything. I’m a person who wants to get the facts . ... and follow the facts wherever they may lead.”
Two House Republicans — Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan, a libertarianleaning member of the Freedom Caucus, and Carlos Curbelo, who represents a swing-district in Florida — became the first Republicans to publicly concede that if Trump did obstruct justice, it could be an impeachable offense.
But those lawmakers were outliers among Republicans. Many others said they would wait for the committees to conduct their probes.
“We’re not going to do this on the basis of newspaper stories,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican. “We’re going to do our own investigation, get to the bottom of this.”
The White House is under fire on several fronts, including allegations that Trump wanted Comey to halt the FBI investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn was forced to resign after misleading other White House officials about his contacts with Russian diplomats.
Trump is also facing questions over his campaign’s possible links to Russians amid their interference in the 2016 election and the president’s sharing of highly classified intelligence about a Islamic State terror threat with Russian officials in the Oval Office.
The administration has denied any wrongdoing, saying the president was “wholly” within his authority to share the intelligence with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister. The White House also denied that Trump intervened in the Flynn investigation.
On Wednesday, the Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and the Senate judiciary committee asked the FBI to turn over all memos between Comey and the president.
The intelligence panel invited the fired FBI director to testify, and the judiciary panel is expected to do the same.
“We’ve reached out,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The House also stepped up its scrutiny as House oversight committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked the FBI to send “all memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings” between Trump and Comey. Chaffetz also invited Comey to address the panel next Wednesday.
That could force the White House to respond to developments in the domestic crises while the president is in the middle of his first foreign trip.
“The problem is, all this stuff here at home is going to follow him overseas,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C. “My advice to him is to just stay disciplined, stay focused and deliver on the world stage.”
Democrats, meanwhile, split over whether Trump’s actions could result in impeachment, preferring instead to pressure Republicans to probe deeper into the questions surrounding the president.
“They do as little as humanly possible just to claim that they’re doing something,” Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said of Republicans.