Sen. Hawley calls for special counsel to fully investigate Obama administration's role in Russia probe
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley tells 'Fox & Friends' that he's in support of issuing subpoenas for testimony from Obama-era officials.
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Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday called for a special counsel to conduct a “full-fledged” investigation into the Obama administration’s potential ties to the FBI’s alleged misconduct in the Russian investigation and in the case against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“The more we learn, the worse it looks which is why we need a full investigation into what went on,” the Republican Missouri lawmaker told “Fox & Friends.”
Hawley said that the Obama administration took "unprecedented action to spy on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election and they "misled the FISA court."
"A secret court where if you are targeted in an investigation, you don't get to appear in the court and we know that the Obama FBI deliberately misled the FISA court."
Meanwhile, Russia probe files released as part of the Justice Department's move to drop its case against Flynn are raising new questions about a mysterious Inauguration Day email sent by Flynn's predecessor in the Obama administration, Susan Rice.
An exhibit in the DOJ's motion to dismiss the Flynn case last week detailed a special counsel interview of former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. The interview indicated outgoing President Barack Obama was aware of Flynn’s intercepted December 2016 phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.
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The document noted Yates learned about the calls during a Jan 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting with Obama, Rice, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
After the briefing, Obama asked Yates and Comey to "stay behind," and said he had "learned of the information about Flynn" and his conversation with Russia's ambassador about sanctions. Obama "specified that he did not want any additional information on the matter, but was seeking information on whether the White House should be treating Flynn any differently, given the information.”
At that point, the document said, "Yates had no idea what the president was talking about, but figured it out based on the conversation. Yates recalled Comey mentioning the Logan Act, but can't recall if he specified there was an 'investigation.' Comey did not talk about prosecution in the meeting.”
Hawley said that the Senate should conduct an investigation as well in order to give the American people answers. Hawley urged that the Judiciary Committee should hear from former Obama officials “under oath.”
"If they won’t come, we should subpoena these people so that they can look into the eye of the American public and tell everyone what exactly they did. Why did they break these protocols? Why did they authorize spying on the Trump campaign? Why did they lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court and try to get wiretaps on Trump affiliates? Why did they break protocol with Flynn and go after him the way they did?”
The filing to dismiss the Flynn case came after the DOJ determined that the bureau's 2017 Flynn interview -- which formed the basis for his guilty plea of lying to investigators -- was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”
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The retired Army lieutenant general for months had been trying to withdraw his plea, aided by a new attorney aggressively challenging the prosecution’s case and conduct.
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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