Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are demanding that former senior national security adviser Mike Flynn answer questions about his conversations with the Russian ambassador and possibly other officials in Moscow in public and under oath.
“We’re demanding that campaign and transition officials be made available to testify in public, under oath on these issues,” Schumer told reporters Wednesday afternoon. He noted that Flynn and Paul Manafort, who served as a top Trump campaign aide, have both reportedly had constant contact with Russian intelligence officials.
“They must testify and anyone else involved in this must be made available to testify as well,” he said.
Schumer called an emergency meeting of his Democratic colleagues and afterward announced next steps they plan to take amid the fallout over Flynn’s resignation after revelations that he talked to the Russian ambassador about U.S. sanctions before President Trump took office.
The New York Democrat accused the Trump administration of “outright lies” about the contact between Russian officials and the Trump campaign and transition and said reports of the extensive communications are “chilling.”
“I’ve been in Congress for a long time — I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
Schumer is part of the group of eight top congressional leaders who receive top-level classified national security briefings. He declined to comment when asked directly if he had received information that Trump campaign officials were coordinating with Russian intelligence officials on any efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential campaign.
He said Democrats would pursue a two-track approach to trying to investigate the extent of Flynn’s contacts with Russian authorities and whether other Trump officials were involved in further communications. The intelligence committee, he said, is already “using every resource” it has to “seek the truth.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee will take the lead in investigating the matter but would not be the only panel looking into the ties between the Trump campaign, transition and administration and Russia, Schumer said. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who serves as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said she will meet with Chairman Chuck Grassley later Wednesday afternoon to discuss what role the committee may play. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who chairs a Judiciary subcommittee, weeks ago announced a bipartisan probe into Russia’s cyberhacking and efforts to influence the presidential election.
Schumer also said law enforcement, including the FBI and the Justice Department, need “to get to the bottom of everything that may have transpired.”
He reiterated his demand that the Attorney General Jeff Sessions follow Justice Department rules and recuse himself from any role in the matter “immediately” and said the Trump campaign, administration and transition must preserve any records related to Russia.
Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the committee, led by Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is already “well on its way” to gathering material and commended Burr for vowing to “follow where the facts lead.”
