National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, embroiled in a controversy related to his ties to Russia and reported conversations with it over U.S. sanctions before President Donald Trump's administration assumed the White House, has damaged his "credibility," Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Sunday.
"I think what Gen. Flynn did with the vice president, misleading him or giving him wrong information, that's not the type of person you want to have around you giving you advice," Cardin told "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace.
"So, I think he has very much questioned his credibility. We need to get to the bottom of this."
Cardin, a top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, added "it goes broader than just Gen. Flynn" and wants an independent investigation on the Trump administration's ties to Russia.
"The relationship between Russia and our elections is something that needs to be independently investigated. I'd call for an independent commission similar to what we had in 9/11. Russia attacked us. We need to have an independent investigation, and Gen. Flynn's comments just add to our concern about the relationship with Russia."
The White House expressed "full confidence" in Gen. Flynn as National Security Adviser on Saturday, prompting Wallace's line of questioning Sunday with Cardin. Wallace shared concern Flynn's reported conversation with Russia officials about sanctions came while former President Barack Obama was still in office.
"We have one president at a time," Cardin responded. "That president is conducting a major foreign policy initiative by imposing sanctions for Russia's attack on the United States. That message had to be clear.
"And if someone was trying to undermine that in our private conversation with the prime minister of Russia, that's wrong. That's why a law was passed a couple of hundred years ago to make that illegal."
Cardin's motivation, he said, is not necessarily to target Gen. Flynn, but to target the administration's "relationship" with Russia and its intentions with impacting our election.
"Russia's continuing to be active not just in the United States but in Western Europe, in these elections," Cardin told Wallace. "We've got to get to the bottom of this, as to what Russia is employing in order to try to bring down our democratic system of government.
"Yes, there should be investigations in Congress, and there are some that are starting and taking place. But there needs to be an independent investigation where people devote their full-time to finding out what Russia was doing, why they did it, who was involved here in the United States, and making sure this never happens again."