Top Republican investigators on Capitol Hill say they don’t have plans to investigate Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia, or his conversations with President Donald Trump — and Sen. Elizabeth Warren is furious, previewing an attack line Democrats are likely to deploy frequently in the days to come.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s furious tweetstorm on Michael Flynn
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“Congress must pull its head out of the sand and launch a real, bipartisan, transparent inquiry into Russia. Our natl security is at stake,” Warren wrote Tuesday in a series of condemning tweets aimed at Trump’s administration after Flynn resigned from his post as national security adviser late Monday night.
Flynn stepped down after a series of leaks revealed he had lied to top White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, about the extent of his conversations with a Russian envoy prior to Trump’s inauguration.
Warren raised the concerns many in Washington have long had about Flynn’s role in the White House and his alleged close ties to Russian officials.
The White House has been giving a lot of mixed messages about just how much Trump and top officials knew about Flynn’s December 29 call with the Russian ambassador — the same day President Barack Obama’s administration placed new sanctions on Moscow.
On Monday, the Washington Post again reported that the Department of Justice had informed the White House of the dangers of Flynn’s ties with Russia in January. Last week, Trump told reporters he had not heard of any such report.
Flynn, as Vox’s Andrew Prokop explained, was one of Trump’s most “extreme” appointees. He has long been known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and for having a mysteriously close relationship with Russian leadership.
Those allegations reach past Flynn, however. Trump himself has maintained a much softer stance on Russia since the start of his campaign — and Moscow has noticed. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have all had a business relationships with top figures in Russia. And US intelligence concluded that the Russian government interfered with the 2016 election, possibly with the intent to get Trump elected.
Warren called on Republican legislators to join in a bipartisan effort to investigate the Trump administration’s dealings with Russia and Flynn’s involvement. Here is the rest of her tweetstorm:
Watch: Michael Flynn resigns
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