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Blumenthal Calls for Special Prosecutor on Flynn, Says Attorney General Can't Be Counted on to Do the Job

April 27, 2017

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) called Thursday for a special prosecutor to investigate former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's dealings with Russia and potential conflicts of interest in the Trump administration, saying Attorney General Jeff Sessions could not be counted on to do the job.

Top House Oversight Committee lawmakers said this week that Flynn, who resigned as President Trump's national security adviser in February, may have broken the law by not disclosing his business dealings with Russia while seeking a security clearance to work at the White House.

The committee's ranking member, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), laid out documentation to that effect on Thursday, adding that the White House was "covering up" for Flynn and making it seem like it had something to hide by not cooperating with the investigation.

Blumenthal followed Cummings and said the letters presented by his colleague from the Department of Defense and Defense Intelligence Agency amounted to "incontrovertible evidence" that Flynn had broken the law.

"This evidence is powerful in showing that Gen. Flynn broke significant criminal laws," he said. "It will not be investigated and prosecuted unless there is a special prosecutor for all the reasons that Rep. Cummings outlined so powerfully about the White House seeking, in effect, to cover up for Gen. Flynn. We can't count on the attorney general or his deputy to report to the president of the United States and the White House to do that job."

"There needs to be a special prosecutor, and likewise, the conflicts of interest on the part of President Trump and others in the White House require a special prosecutor to investigate and pursue," he added.