Senate Republicans demand answers on Flynn The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says he wants to investigate how Flynn’s calls with the Russian ambassador were leaked — not the impact of the calls themselves.

A growing number of Senate Republicans want more scrutiny of ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn’s talks with Russia, echoing Democrats and raising new pressure on the White House.

The GOP remains largely united in quashing Democrats’ insistence on an independent probe of the Trump administration’s relationship with Moscow, and House Republican leaders offered deference to the president on Tuesday, urging Washington to move beyond Flynn’s resignation. But several Republican senators pressed for a deeper look into Flynn’s actions, suggesting Congress could call him to testify as well as examine the transcripts of his calls with Sergey Kislyak, Russian ambassador to the U.S.


“I know there’s mounting frustration at the pace of” existing investigations into Russia’s election-year meddling, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters. “I’m open to looking at a way to make sure all of us and the American people understand everything that’s occurred relative to their nefarious activities.”

Corker also left the door open to supporting an independent commission to review Russia’s disruptive activity, calling for “a fulsome investigation into all angles” of the issue and acknowledging that Flynn’s resignation Monday night sparked “a desire for this to happen at a quickened pace.”

No less than four congressional committees have already begun to look into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, with the Senate and House intelligence panels taking the lead roles. Revelations that Flynn had misled the public — and even Vice President Mike Pence — have shaken up the committees' timetable and added intense political pressure to delve more deeply into the extent of Russian contacts with President Donald Trump's advisers.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday raised several questions he said should guide congressional oversight of the Trump administration's Russia ties.

“What I’d like to know is, did Gen. Flynn make this phone call by himself? If he was directed, by who?” Graham told reporters, adding, “Did they try to engage the Russians before they were in office? Was this part of a continuing pattern between the Trump people and Russia? Was there any legitimacy to the idea that the Russians had something against Gen. Flynn?”

Graham suggested that Flynn’s testimony before the intelligence committees might be required over the course of the investigation, a request that could spark a standoff with the White House over executive privilege.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that seeking Flynn’s testimony would be “getting way ahead” of things, but he added that “we’ll follow the investigation wherever it leads.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told reporters that “it’s likely that Gen. Flynn will be at some point asked to come and talk to” the intelligence committee as its Russia investigation moves ahead.

Asked whether he believes Flynn got direction from Trump before discussing sanctions against Moscow with Kislyak, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) directed “those kinds of questions” to the White House and pointed to existing probes by the House and Senate intelligence panels.

The GOP chairmen of those committees largely responded to Flynn's resignation by highlighting the retired lieutenant general's record of public service and deferring to Trump.

“Washington, D.C., can be a rough town for honorable people, and Flynn — who has always been a soldier, not a politician — deserves America’s gratitude and respect for dedicating so much of his life to strengthening our national security,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chief of the House intelligence panel, said in a statement.

The Senate’s intelligence chairman, North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, also sidestepped the broader implications of Flynn’s departure following Flynn’s apology for misleading Pence.

Both Nunes and Burr's committees are charged with investigating Russia's election-season cyberattacks, with the Senate probe set to include an examination of any potential contact between Trump's campaign and Moscow.

But Nunes told CNN that he wants to investigate how transcripts of Flynn’s calls with Kislyak got leaked — not the impact of the calls themselves. A Republican House aide later clarified comments made earlier by Nunes citing “executive privilege” as a reason the committee couldn’t probe Flynn’s conversations with Trump. The aide said Nunes’ comments were actually meant to refer to accessing a transcript of Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak. The aide noted “privacy concerns” involved in accessing transcripts of a wiretapped call of a U.S. citizen.

Burr said in an interview that he is seeking copies of the transcripts as well. Asked whether Flynn’s Russia contacts should be part of the committee’s ongoing probe, a Burr spokeswoman said, “The Senate Intelligence Committee has conducted and will continue to conduct vigorous oversight over the activities of the Intelligence community, and will do so in regular order, consistent with previous investigations to protect classified information.”

House oversight chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) referred questions about a bipartisan investigation to Nunes. Noting the ongoing intelligence committee probe, Chaffetz told reporters that oversight of the Flynn flap is “taking care of itself.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also stopped short of calling for a new investigation and noted the House intelligence committee is already probing Russian interference in the 2016 election. Asked about the notion that the White House knew of Flynn’s deception for weeks, Ryan said, “I’m not going to prejudge any of the circumstances surrounding this.”

Democrats are raising pressure on the GOP.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters that “potential criminal violations” in the Flynn affair called for a separate investigation by law enforcement officials. Schumer declined to specifically call for an independent prosecutor to probe Flynn’s Russia contacts, but said Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from participating, given his close ties to the Trump White House.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said that “deeply troubling questions” remain over how much the White House knew about Flynn’s talks with Kislyak.

“The American people deserve to know at whose direction Gen. Flynn was acting when he made these calls, and why the White House waited until these reports were public to take action,” Warner said in a statement, adding that the Senate committee’s investigative “task is more urgent than ever.”

The senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, California Rep. Adam Schiff, warned the Trump administration that simply moving on from Flynn’s resignation would be impossible.

“Flynn’s departure does not end questions over his contacts with the Russians, which have been alleged to have begun well before December 29,” Schiff said in a statement. He added, “The Trump Administration has yet to be forthcoming about who was aware of Flynn’s conversations with the Ambassador and whether he was acting on the instructions of the President or any other officials, or with their knowledge.”

Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrats on the judiciary and oversight committees, respectively, called for a full classified briefing by all relevant agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, “as soon as possible and certainly before Thursday, February 16.”

At least one of the Senate’s leading GOP Russia hawks, Armed Services Chairman John McCain, also didn’t appear ready to turn the page yet.

McCain thanked Flynn for his service on Tuesday before adding that his resignation “raises further questions about the Trump administration’s intentions toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer emphasized Tuesday that Trump had no issues with the fact that Flynn held a call with Russia during the transition period, describing the incoming national security adviser’s contacts with the Russian ambassador as a responsible effort to prepare for his new role.

He said Trump soured on Flynn after it became clear Flynn had misled Pence and others in the administration about the substance of those contacts. Trump, he said, was made aware of Flynn’s contradictions on Jan. 26. Spicer said he decided to let Flynn go on Monday because he no longer trusted him.

Trump himself said on Friday that he hadn’t heard reports about Flynn’s Russian contacts that had been widely circulated.

Seung Min Kim and Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.