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Republicans Demand More Detail on Trump’s Meeting With Russians Democrats Escalate Calls for Trump Inquiry, With Republicans More Reserved
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Top lawmakers, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, demanded on Tuesday that the White House provide details concerning President Trump’s meeting last week with Russian officials during which he revealed sensitive intelligence information. WASHINGTON — Members of Congress from both parties escalated calls on Tuesday for the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey to appear before them after reports that President Trump had asked him to drop an investigation into Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has been largely silent on the president’s increasing troubles concerning Russia, carefully pleaded with the administration to stop impeding the Republican agenda. Even as he tried to change the conversation to health care, the focus remained firmly on the president and Russia. Democrats were aggressive in seeking new hearings and an independent investigation. Republicans, on the whole, reserved judgment until they learned more or heard from Mr. Comey himself.
“I think we could do with a little less drama from the White House on a lot of things so that we can focus on our agenda,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday morning, reflecting an increasingly frustrated Republican majority over the White House mishaps. “The country is being tested in unprecedented ways,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said on the Senate floor Tuesday evening. “I say to all my colleagues in the Senate, history is watching.”
Later, during a news conference on Capitol Hill, when asked if he was concerned about Mr. Trump’s competence in handling intelligence information, Mr. McConnell paused for several beats before responding, “No.” Some Republicans were putting the burden on Mr. Comey to produce proof, with Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, vowing to obtain a memo Mr. Comey wrote in which he said Mr. Trump had made his request on the Flynn investigation during a meeting in February.
Lawmakers in both parties were largely confounded by the latest controversy, one in a series of self-made crises that has hobbled their ability to move forward with any of Mr. Trump’s policy priorities. “I need to see it sooner rather than later,” Mr. Chaffetz, who recently announced he was leaving Congress, said on Twitter. “I have my subpoena pen ready.”
“Once again, we are faced with inexplicable stories coming from the White House that are highly troubling,” said Representative Barbara Comstock, Republican of Virginia, who is up for re-election next year in a highly competitive swing district. The revelation about Mr. Comey’s memo, a day after it was disclosed that Mr. Trump had revealed sensitive intelligence to Russian officials, added another layer of chaos and uncertainty on Capitol Hill, diverting attention from debates on health care and tax policy and increasing many lawmakers’ reservations about the president.
Lawmakers in both parties were largely confounded by the latest controversy, one in a series of self-made crises that have hobbled their ability to move forward with any of Mr. Trump’s policy priorities.
As the day began, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has been mostly silent on the president’s increasing troubles concerning Russia, carefully pleaded with the administration to stop impeding the Republican agenda. But even as he tried to change the conversation to health care, the focus remained firmly on the president and Russia.
“I think we could do with a little less drama from the White House on a lot of things so that we can focus on our agenda,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday morning, reflecting the Republican majority’s increasing frustration over the White House’s mishaps.
Later, when asked during a news conference on Capitol Hill whether he was concerned about Mr. Trump’s competence in handling intelligence information, Mr. McConnell paused for several beats before responding, “No.”
By evening, the drama swelled with the news of Mr. Comey’s memo, and Democrats demanded an even more aggressive investigation of Mr. Trump.
“You’re watching an obstruction of justice investigation developing in real time,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “If there were ever any question about the need for an independent special prosecutor, this report is the nail on the argument.”
Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the report solidified the need for Mr. Comey to brief lawmakers again. He said they also wanted to see his notes.
“Enough is enough,” Mr. Schiff told reporters. “Congress needs to get to the bottom of this.”
But most Republicans, who hold majorities in the House and Senate, were far more tempered in their assessments.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina suggested that he was withholding judgment, saying he was “not going to opine about a memo.”
“If the F.B.I. director feels the president did something inappropriate, he should come in and tell us,” Mr. Graham told reporters.
Asked if he was any more inclined now to embrace a special prosecutor to investigate ties between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia, Mr. Graham said no. “Nobody’s showing me a crime anywhere,” he said.
Representative K. Michael Conaway, Republican of Texas, who is leading the House investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, declined to comment Tuesday as members of the committee filed out of a closed-door meeting with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director.
Other Republicans said they had not had time to process the news of Mr. Comey’s memo. “I don’t know the facts,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second most powerful Senate Republican, who took himself out of contention on Tuesday to be Mr. Comey’s replacement.
In an interview on CNN, Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who typically votes with Democrats, was asked whether the revelation of the Comey memo had made impeachment proceedings more likely.
“Reluctantly, I have to say yes,” he said.
Some Republicans seemed inclined to defend Mr. Trump and to question any news report that suggested executive impropriety. After a lengthy defense of the president, Senator Jim Risch of Idaho turned to an Associated Press reporter who appeared unconvinced.
“Get that look off your face,” Mr. Risch said, grinning. “Be happy! Come on. He’s not so bad.”
Republican lawmakers who represent swing districts were more inclined to be critical of the president.
“Once again, we are faced with inexplicable stories coming from the White House that are highly troubling,” said Representative Barbara Comstock of Virginia, who is up for re-election next year in a highly competitive district.
“We need to have immediate classified briefings on what occurred at this meeting so that Congress can at least know as much as Russian leaders and know the impact on our national security, our allies, and our men and women protecting our country,” she said in a statement.“We need to have immediate classified briefings on what occurred at this meeting so that Congress can at least know as much as Russian leaders and know the impact on our national security, our allies, and our men and women protecting our country,” she said in a statement.
The often shifting narrative coming out of the White House has also made it nearly impossible for lawmakers to get a grasp of what happened and how to respond, or to weigh the potential damage to their party. The often shifting narrative coming out of the White House has made it nearly impossible for lawmakers to get a grasp of what has happened and how to respond, or to weigh the potential damage to their party.
“In order for me to judge the appropriateness or not, I have to have context,” Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said. “If it is in fact true that this information was shared with the Russian ambassador, it seems to me it’d be O.K. to be shared with U.S. senators.”“In order for me to judge the appropriateness or not, I have to have context,” Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said. “If it is in fact true that this information was shared with the Russian ambassador, it seems to me it’d be O.K. to be shared with U.S. senators.”
Because Mr. McConnell tends to refrain from criticizing the White House, his words, while muted, were almost certainly heard by other Republicans as a rebuke. Mr. McConnell did not go as far on Tuesday as Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who suggested in a statement that the information discussed by Mr. Trump with the Russians might have endangered allies. “The disclosure of highly classified information has the potential to jeopardize sources and to discourage our allies from sharing future information vital to our security,” Ms. Collins said.
Yet Mr. McConnell did not go as far on Tuesday as Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who suggested in a statement that the information discussed by Mr. Trump with the Russians might have endangered allies. “The disclosure of highly classified information has the potential to jeopardize sources and to discourage our allies from sharing future information vital to our security,” Ms. Collins. Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, requested that the White House provide information to the committee on the Russian meeting and had yet to hear a reply on Tuesday. But after the news broke about Mr. Comey’s memo, Mr. Burr said that the burden was on The Times to produce the document.
Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has requested that the White House provide information to the committee on the incident and had yet to hear a reply on Tuesday.
Democrats, whose powers are limited — they have some subpoena powers if they are able to attract the support of at least one Republican on the Intelligence Committee — spent a great deal of Tuesday strongly criticizing Mr. Trump.
“We rely on our intelligence from our allies to keep us safe,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, who took the Senate floor Tuesday morning to demand that the Intelligence Committee be given access to the transcripts of the meeting between Mr. Trump and the Russians. “If our allies abroad can’t trust us to keep sensitive information close to the vest, they may no longer share it with us.”
Over all, Republicans were tempered in their criticism of Mr. Trump, with many arguing that the president was acting within his authority to declassify information. But many expressed privately — and some publicly — that they would like the White House to function with far greater discipline.
“There’s some alignments that need to take place over there, and I think they’re fully aware of that,” said Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “Just the decision-making processes and everybody being on the same page.”
Other Republicans seemed to give the White House the benefit of the doubt even as they called for more information.
“I suspect the administration will brief the Congress more fully on exactly what transpired,” Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas and a former Army captain, said on Tuesday in an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.
“But I have much greater confidence in the word of H. R. McMaster on the record, in front of cameras, than I do anonymous sources in the media,” Mr. Cotton said, referring to Mr. Trump’s national security adviser.
Mike Pompeo, the director of the C.I.A., was expected to brief members of the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday evening. Emily Hytha, a spokeswoman for Representative K. Michael Conaway of Texas, the Republican who is heading the House’s investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election, said the meeting had been scheduled “several weeks ago.”