Flynn Departure Divides Hill GOPers Between Pushing For Probe Or Defending Trump
By CAITLIN MACNEAL PublishedFEBRUARY 14, 2017, 1:59 PM EDT
Tierney Sneed contributed reporting.
Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill were forced Tuesday to grapple with the Trump administration's first major personnel crisis—less than a month into President Donald Trump's tenure at the White House—after Michael Flynn resigned from his role as national security adviser.
Some congressional Republicans instinctively worked to protect and defend Trump, praising the President for booting Flynn from the administration and shifting focus to leaks of information about Flynn's calls with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Flynn had several phone conversations with the diplomat before Trump’s inauguration, during which he reportedly discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia. Both Flynn and the Trump administration initially denied that Flynn discussed sanctions on the call; however, after several news outlets reported last week that Flynn did in fact discuss the sanctions, Flynn stopped denying that he discussed the issue and conceded he could not be sure whether he talked about sanctions.
Other Republicans seized on Flynn's resignation to call for investigations into his calls to Russia and their implications for the Trump administration's approach to Russia and Vladimir Putin.
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