House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Wednesday he told congressional Republicans to spend time gathering all the facts on the questions surrounding President Trump, and warned against jumping to conclusions based on news reports.
“We can’t deal with speculation and innuendo and there’s clearly a lot of politics being played,” the Wisconsin Republican said after meeting with his colleagues.
He said the House will pursue its investigation “regardless of which party is in the White House.”
This week has seen new accusations against Mr. Trump, including that he inappropriately shared highly sensitive information with the Russian ambassador in an Oval Office meeting, and that former FBI Director James B. Comey said the president asked him to back off his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
“We need the facts,” Mr. Ryan said. “It is obvious there are some people out there who want to harm the president but we have an obligation to carry out our oversight.”
Republicans are chafing at the attention Mr. Trump is earning, which is distracting from their efforts to tackle their own agenda, including a major overhaul of the tax code.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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