After Flynn Resignation, Senators Call for Continued Investigation

Senators from both parties pressed for further investigation of ties between the Trump Administration and Russia, following the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn late Monday night. Flynn resigned after coming under fire for telephone calls made with Russian officials before he officially took office, saying he inadvertently misled the Trump Administration about what was said during the calls. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Tuesday the resignation “raises further questions about the Trump Administration’s intentions toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia.” US policy toward Russia has been confused, he wrote, by “the President suggesting moral equivalence between the United States and Russia” despite Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its interference in the US election. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) lodged her own criticism in a series of Tweets on Tuesday morning. “American national security demands that we not allow Michael Flynn to become a scapegoat for this Admin’s disturbing ties to Russia,” wrote Warren, who demanded that Congress launch “a real, bipartisan, transparent inquiry into Russia.” And in a statement released Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said that “deeply troubling questions” were raised by “reports that the White House may have been briefed weeks ago” on Flynn’s phone conversations. Stressing the need to clarify who in the administration knew about Flynn’s communication with Russia and when they knew it, Warner said the resignation “reinforces both the urgency and the significance of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russian interference” in the US election.