Rep. Steve King said Wednesday that there are clearly people within the intelligence community who don’t want to see President Trump succeed and that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was subjected to a “political assassination.”
“It’s clear that there are people within the intelligence community that disagree with President Trump, that don’t want to see his administration succeed — that’s part of the configuration of these timed leaks that [have] come out,” Mr. King, Iowa Republican, said on CNN’s “New Day.”
He said Mr. Flynn “has been subject to a political assassination, [regardless] of what he did or didn’t say to President Trump or Vice President Pence.”
Mr. Flynn resigned Monday, and the White House said Tuesday he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about the nature of his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. after November’s election and before Mr. Trump was sworn into office.
Mr. King said if the House intelligence committee on Capitol Hill looks at leaks, they will be able to look at the substance of the calls between Mr. Flynn and Russia’s ambassador.
“In the process of this, we need to find out who the leaking moles are who are violating federal law inside this government,” Mr. King said. “Because we can’t function [in a] national security standpoint if we’ve got that kind of spillage coming out of the intelligence community.”
Mr. King’s comments also come after multiple outlets reported Tuesday that Trump associates were in contact with Russian officials during last year’s campaign, which Mr. Trump and his team have consistently denied.
“If this is constant contact, I’d like to see some evidence. I think there’s some substance to these, at least rumors and innuendos. But we’ve got to have some facts to work with here,” Mr. King said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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