Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Republican, said Tuesday that the “cover up” was worse than any crime former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn might have committed when he spoke to Russia’s U.S. ambassador last year before President Trump was sworn into office.
“In this case, the cover-up was worse than the crime,” Mr. Kinzinger said on “Fox & Friends.”
“It’s arguably or questionably a crime — probably not,” said Mr. Kinzinger, a member of the House foreign affairs committee. “It was a bad decision to call Russia and talk about this in the middle of the past administration determining what sanctions are going to look like.”
“But what happened, the big problem is when he lied to the vice president and he became a distraction to President Trump,” he said.
Mr. Flynn had initially denied he discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia during the talks, but said in his resignation letter Monday that he “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.”
Such talks could have violated the Logan Act, which forbids private citizens from engaging in certain kinds of foreign diplomacy. But no one has ever been prosecuted under that 18th-century law.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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