Sen. Chairman Chuck Grassley chairs the Judiciary Committee while Sen. Dianne Feinstein is the panel’s top Democrat. | Getty Grassley and Feinstein request briefing on Flynn resignation

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee are jointly asking for a briefing from top administration officials about the circumstances that prompted the abrupt resignation of Michael Flynn as White House national security adviser this week.

The White House has been engulfed in the Flynn controversy ever since news reports unveiled Flynn’s communications with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, before and after the Nov. 8 election. Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general, had told White House officials that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail due to his contacts with the Russians, according to a Washington Post report earlier this week.


Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel’s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, are now asking for a briefing on the matter, as well as documents including transcripts of Flynn’s intercepted calls and an FBI report that summarized the intercepted calls.

“According to media reports, both the FBI and the Justice Department were involved,” Grassley and Feinstein wrote in the letter, released Wednesday evening. “These reports raise substantial questions about the content and context of Mr. Flynn’s discussions with Russian officials, the conclusions reached by the Justice Department and the actions it took in response, as well as possible leaks of classified information by current and former government employees.”

Grassley and Feinstein asked that the briefing be held the week of Feb. 27. Congress is out on recess next week. The letter is addressed to FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, their old colleague who was recently elevated to the Trump administration.

Feinstein told reporters earlier Wednesday that she would meet with Grassley to see if their powerful committee — with broad jurisdiction over the Justice Department — could play any role in reviewing the federal investigation into the Russia ties.

A Justice Department spokesman said DOJ will review the letter.