WASHINGTON ― Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the “cloud” created by the constant revelations about the FBI’s investigation into a former Trump administration official, and the Trump campaign’s possible contacts with Russia, is “impacting everything.”
Over the past week, new information emerged concerning the FBI’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as well as what the president did to squash the investigation and what he spoke about with then-FBI Director James Comey.
“There’s no doubt this cloud is impacting everything else and we need to get over this once and for all,” Rubio said Sunday in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill spent the week barely catching up with each new scandal as it broke, making it nearly impossible to keep the focus on their legislative priorities.
Rubio, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers will continue their own review of Flynn and of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.
Rubio disputed Trump’s claim that the FBI investigation is a “witch hunt,” saying “these questions need to be answered.”
“Whatever the facts are, that’s what we need to make our decisions on,” Rubio said.
Pointing to reports this week that Trump asked Comey to drop his investigation into Flynn shortly after Flynn resigned, and that Trump told Russian officials earlier this month that he’d fired Comey to relieve pressure, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Rubio if he thought the White House was standing in the way of the process.
“Well, those response[s] are based on notes that I haven’t seen and neither have you,” Rubio said, referring to memos Comey apparently wrote after his meetings with Trump to create a paper trail. “That’s why we need to have an inquiry that looks at all that. That’s why I asked the White House to produce those notes to the intelligence committee, so we can review it.”