WASHINGTON _ Democrats on the House intelligence committee demanded Friday that President Donald Trump address a report that his national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country's ambassador in December, before Trump took office.
The FBI has been examining Flynn's contacts with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to reports. At issue is whether Flynn tried to undermine the Obama administration's move to toughen sanctions against Moscow after concluding that Russia had meddled in the U.S. election.
A Washington Post account, citing nine current or former U.S. officials, flatly contradicted Flynn's repeated public assertions that he had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak. On Thursday, a representative for Flynn backed away from those statements, telling the Post that while Flynn "had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn't be certain that the topic never came up."
Vice President Mike Pence had repeated Flynn's flat denials in a television interview, and after the Post published its account, a White House official pointedly told the paper that Pence had made his statements based on what Flynn had told him.
Flynn should be fired if he did warn Kislyak, said the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif..
"The allegation ... raises serious questions of legality and fitness for office," Schiff said in a statement. "If he did so, and then he and other administration officials misled the American people, his conduct would be all the more pernicious, and he should no longer serve in this administration or any other."
Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, the ranking Democrat on the panel's CIA subcommittee, said Flynn should be suspended until the allegations are investigated.
Flynn's contacts with Kislyak may not have broken any laws; the relevant one, the Logan Act, which bars private citizens from interfering with U.S. diplomacy, is an 18th-century statute that is periodically waved around as a threat, but has never been used for a prosecution.
