After Michael Flynn resigned from his role as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser on Monday night, two top Democrats in the House demanded a briefing from the FBI and Justice Department about Flynn’s actions and what the White House knew about his contact with Russia.
“We were shocked and dismayed to learn this evening of reports that three weeks ago, U.S. law enforcement officials warned the White House Counsel that General Flynn had provided false information to the public about his communications with the Russian government, but that the Trump Administration apparently did nothing about it – neither to clarify the truth to the American public or to stop General Flynn from being an ongoing national security concern,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the Oversight Committee, and Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a joint statement.
They wrote that Flynn “was unfit to be the National Security Advisor, and should have been dismissed three weeks ago.”
“Now, we in Congress need to know who authorized his actions, permitted them, and continued to let him have access to our most sensitive national security information despite knowing these risks. We need to know who else within the White House is a current and ongoing risk to our national security,” the congressmen wrote.
“While Congressional Republicans have turned a blind eye to their constitutional duty to conduct oversight on these issues, we Democrats believe that this new disclosure warrants 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. We are communicating this request to the Department of Justice and FBI this evening,” Cummings and Conyers said.
According to several reports, the Justice Department warned the White House in January that Flynn could be susceptible to blackmail by Russia due to his communications with the Russian ambassador.
