Sen. Susan Collins Calls For Investigation Of Russian Ties To Election

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine called Wednesday for a congressional investigation into Russia's attempts to intervene in the 2016 presidential election, adding that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn will be asked to testify.

“We’re not going to exclude anyone from our review, and it will be thorough, accurate, bipartisan and in-depth,” Collins said in an interview with Maine Public Radio. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Other Republicans have been hesitant to investigate the administration, even after Flynn resigned over misleading the vice president about discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador before President Trump's inauguration.

Sen. Rand Paul said,"We'll never even get started with doing the things we need to do, like repealing Obamacare, if we're spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans. I think it makes no sense."

But Collins has shown that she is not afraid to stand up to the president or the rest of the Republican Party. For instance, she voted against Betsy DeVos for secretary of Education, nearly thwarting her chances at confirmation.

In the interview, she was open to subpoenaing the president for his tax returns.

"I don’t know whether we will need to do that,” she said. “If it’s necessary to get to the answers, then I suspect we would.”

Collins is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She noted that other members of the committee want Flynn to testify in an investigation.

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