WASHINGTON – Reacting to the resignation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is “going to go through” the investigation process of Russia’s “active measures campaign” and “we’re going to go where the facts take us.”
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the “substance” of the conversations Flynn had with the Russian ambassador to the United States might not have been “problematic.”
PJM asked Corker if he thought Flynn was treated fairly or not.
“I don’t know what happened internally. I had a good meeting with Flynn just the week before and he was setting up the interagency process in my opinion in a very good way, but the credibility issue obviously is something that’s hard to overcome,” Corker said on Capitol Hill Thursday.
“Again, I don’t know what the daily machinations were inside the White House, but you know once the credibility issue is in question it’s very difficult to maintain,” he added.
Given that Flynn reportedly told the FBI he did not discuss sanctions with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak when monitored conversations revealed otherwise, Corker was asked if the situation should have been handled a different way.
“I don’t want to respond to that because of conversations I’ve had with other people but I do think, as it turned out, it might not have been the substance of the conversation that was problematic. It might have been the way it was communicated to others,” he responded.
President Trump defended Flynn at a news conference on Thursday.
“I don’t think he did anything wrong — if anything, he was doing something right,” Trump said. “He didn’t just call Russia, he called and spoke to both ways, I think, 30-odd countries. He was just doing his job.”
Trump said he asked Flynn for his resignation and he complied. Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, was asked if he thought Flynn was treated fairly.
“My take is that the Senate Intelligence Committee is doing an investigation on Russia’s active-measures campaign in the U.S. elections of 2016, and we’re going to go through that process and we’re going to go where the facts take us,” he replied.
When asked if he supports the investigation, Rubio replied, “Absolutely.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) addressed Flynn’s resignation on Tuesday. He said the “intelligence committee is already looking at Russian involvement in our election” and “it is highly likely they will want to take look at this episode as well. They have the broad jurisdiction to do it.”
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