After Russia hearing, Trump decries "taxpayer funded charade"
Following over three hours of testimony to Senate Judiciary Committee members by former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to vent on the day's proceedings.
While Mr. Trump appeared to support Clapper in his statements that there was "no evidence" of collusion between the Russian government and Mr. Trump calling it "a hoax" and a "taxpayer funded charade," the president lauded Yates for making the "fake media extremely unhappy," saying her testimony provided nothing but "old news."
During Monday's questioning, Yates confirmed she warned National Security Adviser Michael Flynn that he could have been susceptible to threats of blackmail following his interactions with Russian officials.
Yates described her account of discussions made with White House counsel where she warned that Flynn had been misleading the administration about his communications with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
"We felt like it was critical that we get this information to the White House, in part because the vice president was making false statements to the public and because we believed that Gen. Flynn was possibly compromised," Yates said.
Now lawmakers are looking to question other advisers to Trump, including Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, to see if knowledge of Russian interference ran deep.
Page has previously denied he was in regular contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, but in a 12-page letter sent to Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, obtained by CBS News, Page informed members that he is willing to testify before lawmakers on his knowledge of any Russian interference, but only in the form of an open hearing.
Page added that he would not turn over any material evidence that lawmakers are requesting unless they give him records he has previously requested.
When asked about the possibility of subpoenaing Page, Burr told reporters following the hearing that he's prepared to go "a number of different ways"
"Up to this point, he's seemed to be a cooperative person of interest," Burr said. "The committee will wait to hear from him at the end of the day and anybody else who got letters. But our investigation can't be 100 percent voluntary the entire time to get the answers."
Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters that his committee plans to also talk to Yates "at some point."
