WASHINGTON: The White House battled Tuesday to insulate Donald Trump from the scandal over a top aide’s contacts with Russia, as calls grew for an independent investigation.
Trump’s young presidency has been thrown into turmoil after the forced resignation of his national security adviser and long-time supporter Michael Flynn.
The retired three-star general and former head of US defence intelligence is accused of discussing sanctions strategy with Russia’s ambassador Sergey Kislyak before taking office.
The White House said that after weeks of internal investigation — which turned up no wrongdoing but “eroded” trust — Trump had requested and accepted Flynn’s resignation late Monday.
Flynn is the third Trump aide to step back amid questions about his ties to Russia since the mogul began his improbable White House bid.
His departure follows those of election campaign manager Paul Manafort and Carter Page, an early foreign policy adviser to the candidate.
The unprecedented early resignation of a key member of staff has rocked an administration already buffeted by leaks, infighting and legal defeats.
Amid the tumult, the White House denied that Trump had instructed Flynn to discuss the possibility that Obama-era sanctions would be rolled back.
“No, absolutely not. No, no, no,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer, when asked whether such a conversation took place.
Spicer said the president “instinctively thought that General Flynn did not do anything wrong and the White House counsel’s review corroborated that,” adding that the counsel “determined that there is not an illegal issue, but rather a trust issue.”
“The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for General Flynn’s resignation.”
Trump took to Twitter to insist that “The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?”
The White House also insisted that Trump — despite repeatedly professing admiration for Vladimir Putin and suggesting sanctions could be lifted — “has been incredibly tough on Russia.”
In a new hardening of the US line on Russia, Spicer added that “President Trump has made it very clear he expects the Russian government to de-escalate violence in the Ukraine and return Crimea.”
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have now called for an investigation into what occurred, although they differ sharply on the scope and powers.
“This. Is. Not. Normal.” said Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, insisting “Trump owes Americans a full account” of his administration’s dealings with Moscow before and after the 2016 election.
Flynn’s resignation elicited a simple but persistent question Tuesday from congressional Democrats: What did Trump know and when did he know it?
Democrats demanded the formation of an independent, bipartisan panel to examine possible links between the Trump administration and Russia.
This latest push builds on an earlier call by Democrats for an independent inquiry into Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election to help Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“The American people deserve to know the full extent of Russia’s financial, personal and political grip on President Trump and what that means for our national security,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
At issue is whether Flynn broke diplomatic protocol and potentially the law.
“Who knew about this and when? Did the president know and when did he know it? Did others at Trump transition team authorise conversations about sanctions?” asked Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the No. 2 House Democrat. “After the White House was informed, who made the decision to allow Flynn to continue to serve despite the fact he misled the administration?”
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the Trump administration ought to want a “public airing” of Flynn’s actions.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Flynn made the right decision to step down. But Ryan sidestepped questions about whether an inquiry is warranted.
“I’m not going to prejudge any of the circumstances surrounding this until we have all of the information,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
— Agencies
