Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) — the ranking members of the Judiciary and Oversight committees, respectively — called for a classified briefing for Congress regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn after his abrupt resignation Monday night.
“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,” the two said in a statement.
{mosads}“The reality is General 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 statement continued.
Flynn resigned late Monday after reports he misled senior White House officials about his conversations with Russia.
The embattled Flynn blamed his resignation late Monday on the “fast pace of events” that led him to “inadvertently” give Vice President Pence and others “incomplete information” about his phone conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.
Pence had defended Flynn’s contacts with Russia, and when it became clear the national security adviser had not been forthcoming, serious questions were raised about his ability to keep his job.
Conyers and Cummings charged late Monday that Republicans were turning “a blind eye to their constitutional duty to conduct oversight on these issues.”
But, they said, “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.”