Investigations into Russia to continue after Flynn’s exit
WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies and Congress will continue to investigate Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election, even after President Donald Trump fired his national security adviser for providing inaccurate accounts of his contacts with the Russian ambassador last year.
Democrats said an independent investigation was the best way to answer questions about the Trump administration’s ties to Russia. But Republican leaders continue to refuse to consider that option and said three congressional investigations underway were enough.
Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired late Monday. The White House said he misled Vice-President Mike Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
This isn’t the first time Trump has distanced himself from an adviser in light of relationships with Moscow. In late August, Paul Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign chairman after disclosures by The Associated Press about his firm’s covert lobbying on behalf of Ukraine’s former pro-Russia governing political party. Trump has long held a friendly posture toward the long-time U.S. adversary and has been reluctant to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin, even for Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.