Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, wants more answers on whether White House National Security Adviser Mike Flynn spoke to Russia’s ambassador about the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Moscow before President Trump’s inauguration.
“If he did, it’s troubling because a private citizen does not have the ability to negotiate with a foreign government,” Collins told reporters Monday. Collins did say that she has “no way of evaluating” the veracity of the reports about Flynn’s contacts with any Russian official before Trump became president.
Last month, Vice President Mike Pence vouched for Flynn and said he and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak had not discussed sanctions. Pence said that the timing of the call on Dec. 29 was coincidental and that it was made to offer condolences for a fatal plane crash and to wish him a merry Christmas.
But if Flynn didn’t tell Pence the truth about the call, Collins said it would be a “huge issue.”
“That’s why I have great confidence that this will be a fair and full investigation because if those reports are true, I’m sure Vice President Pence would feel very misled, and I can’t imagine that he would have trust in Gen. Flynn going forward,” she said.
Flynn has denied discussing sanctions during the call, which happened the same day President Obama levied sanctions against Moscow for hacking Democratic emails and releasing them during the presidential election.
Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Chris Murphy of Connecticut on Friday called for an investigation into Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials. White House officials said they have spent the weekend reviewing any contact Flynn, a retired Army general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, had with Russian officials before Jan. 20.
