The Ranking Democrat on the House Government Oversight Committee just sent Vice President Mike Pence a demand letter (embedded below) for information from his time as the Trump Transition Team Chairman about a high-profile “Pizzagate” participant he screened for a government role.
It’s the second major investigative demand letter from Congress to the Vice President concerning his role in the Trump Transition, following a request from the Senate two weeks ago.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) has sent several letters to Vice President Pence before and after the inauguration about the Flynn family’s foreign lobbying, culminating in a letter last month demanding the submission of non-confidential FBI clearance disclosures filled out by Michael Flynn Jr.
Now, Rep. Cummings is asking VP Pence directly to authorize the FBI to release Flynn Jr.’s security clearance forms to Congress, in his official capacity as Chairman of the Trump transition team. He wrote:
On December 5, 2017, the FBI responded to my request in a letter that appears toacknowledge that it is in possession of a background investigation application from MichaelFlynn, Jr., but that “[a]ny decision to release materials” relating to this inquiry “would be madein consultation with the relevant agency(ies)
Since Michael Flynn, Jr. participated only during the transition, and was never hired bythe White House, I am now writing to request that you—in your capacity as head of the Transition Team—authorize the FBI to release the materials I requested.
Rep. Cummings’ letter asks for four sections of the FBI clearance forms – which the bureau acknowledged it is holding – that relate to Flynn Jr.’s foreign national contacts, any foreign payments or actions in furtherance of foreign influence.
The Trump transition team wanted to give disgraced National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s Pizzagate-pushing son a still unknown official role in the federal government or at the White House, which is the only reason why he would’ve filled out a series of FBI disclosures for a security clearance background check.
In the conclusion of Rep. Cummings’ letter to Pence, he notes that “there has been some question in the past about whether you personally have received my letters.”
During the transition, the Democratic Congressman sent a warning letter about Flynn to him as transition team Chairman, which then VP-elect Pence claimed on national TV to have never received while his staff acknowledged receipt by email.
While the President wants to keep believing that he’s not under criminal investigation, he is the head of the presidential transition team and is therefore under the cloud of the same investigation.
Now, Congress is insisting on reviewing documents filed by Flynn’s fake news pushing son, which could shed light on precisely which foreign people the Trump Team was working with on those ideas, and which were paying them.
House Oversight Letter to VP Pence by Grant Stern on Scribd
