House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Saturday demanded that the Trump administration suspend National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and revoke his intelligence security clearance pending an independent investigation of his dealings with Russia.
"The president and his national security adviser have given the Russians the impression that whatever they do, they are not to worry, because the Trump White House will not stand against their aggression," the California Democrat said in a statement.
"General Flynn should be suspended and have his intelligence clearance revoked until the facts are known about his secret contacts with the Russians.
"The American people deserve the truth," Pelosi said.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against the Kremlin with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The talks happened during the month before Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration — and they reportedly are being reviewed by the FBI along with other intercepted communications involving Russian officials.
The White House has acknowledged that Flynn has had two conversations with Kislyak.
"President Trump’s kowtowing to [President] Vladimir Putin is endangering our national security and emboldening a dangerous tyrant," Pelosi added. "What do the Russians have on President Trump that he would flirt with lifting sanctions and weakening NATO?
"Republicans should be just as alarmed as Democrats at the mortifying coziness the Trump administration has shown with Putin," she said. "Congress must also launch a bipartisan, independent, outside commission to expose the full extent of Russia’s influence on the election and this administration."