House Speaker Paul Ryan said he supports a recent assessment by Rep. Trey Gowdy that the FBI acted properly when it used an informant to speak to members of President Trump’s campaign team.
And Ryan told reporters Trump should not pardon himself.
Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on Fox News last week, “I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got and that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump.”
Ryan said Wednesday he supports Gowdy’s statement, although it has drawn backlash from people who believe the Obama administration was spying on Trump for political purposes.
“I think Chairman Gowdy’s initial assessment is accurate,” Ryan said, adding that “we have some more digging to do,” and more interviews to conduct.
Congress is also waiting for the FBI to turn over documents lawmakers have requested about the matter. Republicans have accused the Department of Justice of stonewalling on the document requests.
“It would be helpful if we got this information earlier,” Ryan said. “If we got all the information earlier we could wrap this up.
Reporters asked Ryan if Trump had the power to pardon himself.
“I don’t know the technical answer to that question but I think obviously the answer is he shouldn’t, and no one is above the law,” Ryan said.
Trump tweeted Monday, “I have the absolute right to pardon myself,” in response to what he has described as a witch hunt by special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged collusion between the Russians and Trump’s presidential campaign.
