May 16, 2017

“I Have My Subpoena Pen Ready”: Congress Reacts to News Trump May Have Asked FBI to Stop Flynn Probe

Michael Reynolds/ CNP via ZUMA Wire

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On Tuesday evening, the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump asked former FBI director James Comey during a February meeting to end the federal investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The White House denied in a statement that Trump had ever asked Comey or “anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn.”

Since the latest bombshell hit, lawmakers have come out to question whether the president engaged in obstruction of justice—and one senator raised, for the first time, the prospect of impeachment. Here are some of the responses from members of Congress on Tuesday night:

“This reporting, if confirmed, would represent a grave development. The need for a special counsel and an independent commission to investigate the President’s conduct, as it relates to this issue, and his campaign’s possible coordination with Russia is urgent. The stories of the last week raise serious questions about whether the President respects the independence of the FBI and law enforcement authorities. It is vital that Congress obtain these memos and hear public testimony from former Director Comey. No one, not even the President, is above the law and the American people deserve answers about President Trump’s conduct.” — Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)

Meanwhile, a number of Republicans were quick to unleash a flurry of “no comments”:

Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees sent a letter on Tuesday demanding a full investigation into whether Trump and his top officials engaged in an “ongoing conspiracy to obstruct” federal and congressional investigations into his campaign’s ties to Russia.

 

We will continue updating this post as more members of Congress weigh in.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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