WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees, today joined CNN to discuss the investigation into General Michael Flynn’s contact with the Russian ambassador.

“It’s interesting and important here, not just what the current Trump administration’s relationship with Russia is and will be, and whether that complicates our national security, but what relationship the Trump campaign had with senior levels of the Russian government and with Russian intelligence officials,” said Senator Coons. “It’s publicly reported in many sources that four senior Trump campaign officials were already under investigation by the FBI. And I think we need to let that investigation go where it goes, and then we need to make sure on a bipartisan basis in Congress that whatever complicating relationship President Trump may have with Russia does not impact our national security.”

Full audio and video available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on Michael Flynn’s contact with the Russian ambassador and the leaks that told the media about it: “Well, the credible allegations that the Trump campaign at the highest levels was in regular contact with Russian intelligence are the big deal here. And it’s striking that President Trump is now criticizing what he calls the “fake media” for having attacked the man he just fired. A man he fired for lying to him. Or to be more concise, a man he fired weeks after he knew he lied to him, but only fired him after it became clear in the press that he had lied to the vice president and implicitly the president. I’d encourage the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan basis is going ahead and finding out exactly what’s behind General Flynn’s contacts with Russian intelligence.”

Senator Coons on being a Senate Democrat in this situation: “As you just heard in the previous interview, you have House committee leaders who found the time to have 12, 13, 14 hearings into the incidents in Benghazi, but don’t seem interested at all in a Russian attack on our democracy through a concerted campaign of contacting the Trump campaign, getting and leaking information from the Clinton campaign, and directly undermining our democracy. That’s very concerning. In the Senate, I am hopeful that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is proceeding on a bipartisan basis, will get access to all the relevant information—all the reports of conversations and e-mails and move forward to thoroughly investigate this. I am on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, both of which have Republican chairs who have indicated a willingness to pursue this issue where it goes in the interest of national security and defending our constitutional order, and I’m encouraged by that.”

Senator Coons on whether Michael Flynn should be called to testify: “Well, I think Michael Flynn ought to be called to testify in front of committees of Congress. Frankly, there’s a lot of information here. There are a lot of e-mails and of conversations. I’m not going to comment on the specifics of the transcripts that you’re referring to. I think there’s a lot to look at here. I think it’s important that we proceed in a deliberate and thorough way. That’s why I think that’s it important that General Flynn testify. I think it’s important that we have General Flynn testify, because there’s a lot of information here and it’s misleading for folks to cite just one transcript of one conversation when in fact there’s a large body of data here.”

Senator Coons on the Trump administration’s relationship with Russia: “Well, that’s exactly the question we need to get to the bottom of. It’s interesting and important here, not just what the current Trump administration’s relationship with Russia is and will be, and whether that complicates our national security, but what relationship the Trump campaign had with senior levels of the Russian government and with Russian intelligence officials. It’s publicly reported in many sources that four senior Trump campaign officials were already under investigation by the FBI. And I think we need to let that investigation go where it goes and then we need to make sure on a bipartisan basis in Congress that whatever complicating relationship President Trump may have with Russia does not impact our national security. So, I was encouraged that a bipartisan bill that’s called Restraining Russia’s Aggression, Senate Bill 94, now has 20 co-sponsors, both Republicans and Democrats including Republicans and Democrats in leadership and it is a show of bipartisan concern about complicated relationships between President Trump and Russia. Certainly one of the areas throughout the course of the campaign and in the first few weeks of this tumultuous Trump administration that have caused real concern for our allies in Europe is Mr. Trump’s puzzling and repeated statements of praise for Vladimir Putin who is a thug and an autocrat, who has murdered journalists and his political opponents and invaded neighboring countries, and we now know sought to undermine our democracy directly.”

Senator Coons on Rep. Chaffetz’s reluctance to look into it: “That’s a striking question. And I think President Trump, rather than attacking the real news such as CNN and rather [than] trying to change the subject to who did or didn’t leak what, should be calling on his allies in Congress to fully investigate this matter. President Trump and Vice President Pence ought to be coming clean in directly addressing this matter so that we can all move on or so that it can be appropriately resolved and addressed.”

 

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