Dems press White House counsel on Flynn firing

Leading Democrats of several House committees are pressing White House counsel Donald McGahn for answers about how Michael Flynn lost his position as national security adviser.

In a letter to McGahn on Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers asked what he and other top Trump administration officials did when then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates told them last month Flynn had misled the White House about his calls with the Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.

Vice President Pence, who denied in television interviews that Flynn had discussed Russian sanctions issued by the Obama administration with the ambassador, reportedly did not learn the truth until The Washington Post published a report last week citing current and former administration officials.

{mosads}“These reports raise grave concerns about the honesty and integrity of White House officials with the public. The National Security Advisor provided false information to the public, which was then repeated by several senior White House officials. Even after learning that this information was inaccurate, no White House officials corrected those falsehoods,” the lawmakers wrote.

Among the questions posed to McGahn are to whom he relayed Yates’s warning and what they planned to do with that information before media reports surfaced; how many classified intelligence briefings involving Russia Flynn attended; and whether anyone in the Trump administration directed Flynn to discuss sanctions with the Russian ambassador before Inauguration Day. 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Trump asked Flynn to resign because his trust in him had “eroded.” But on Wednesday, Trump said that Flynn had been treated “unfairly” by media reports on his conversations with the Russian ambassador. 

The letter was signed by Reps. Elijah Cummings (Md.), John Conyers (Mich.), Adam Smith (Wash.), Bennie Thompson (Miss.), Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Eliot Engel (N.Y.), the top Democrats on the Oversight, Judiciary, Armed Services, Homeland Security, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, respectively.

They asked that McGahn provide responses to their questions by Feb. 28.