Crisis-weary Capitol Hill Tense Over Latest Trump, Comey Allegations

CAPITOL HILL — 

Shock and surprise are now part of the routine on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers start each morning grappling with a new political reality brought on by the revelations of the night before.

House Republicans went to work Wednesday facing new allegations that President Donald Trump asked FBI Director James Comey to stop investigating links between Russia and his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. If proven true, the president's request could be prosecuted as obstructing an investigation, and could be grounds for impeachment.

In an instant, an already crisis weary Congress reached a new level of tension.

House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz demanded proof of those conversations, while inviting Comey back up to Capitol Hill to testify. A handful of Republicans joined House Democrats' long-running calls for an independent investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. House Republicans Carlos Curbelo and Justin Amash went even further, raising the possibility of impeaching Trump if his request to Comey could be proven.

But for most Republicans, facing down a gauntlet of reporters outside their weekly strategy meeting was just the latest challenge in an exhausting news cycle.

"The only distraction is if you let it be a distraction," Representative Barry Loudermilk told reporters. "I don't see this as a distraction. You guys will be here asking about another issue in a week or two. It's just an evolving news cycle these days."

Loudermilk joined many Republican colleagues in calling for Comey to return to Congress to testify about the details of his conversation with Trump. In the midst of a week of fast-moving revelations about Trump, the majority of the Republican conference appeared to be taking a wait-and-see approach until Comey speaks.

Any movement on an independent investigation depends upon the votes of House Republicans. With a year-and a-half to go until the 2018 mid-term elections, many members of Congress are carefully watching polling numbers for Trump back in their home congressional districts.

"People voted for him because they were sick and tired of politicians and political speak," said Representative James Comer, who described the president as very popular back in Comer's home congressional district in Kentucky.

"I think a lot of times he's the victim of not being a career politician, not knowing that sometimes when you say a joke, and everybody knows it's a joke but when it's written in print, it doesn't sound like a joke," Comer said of Trump's comments to Comey.

For House Speaker Paul Ryan, the chaos of daily revelations cannot become a distraction from his self-described "once in a generation" opportunity to put an ambitious legislative agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress.

"We can't deal with speculation and innuendo, and there's clearly a lot of politics being played," Ryan said Wednesday.

"Now is the time to gather all the pertinent information," Ryan said, describing his message to House Republicans during their weekly meeting. "Our job is to be responsible, sober and focused only on gathering the facts."

One Republican lawmaker ducking cameras outside the meeting resorted to just that one word.

"Facts!" shouted departing Representative Scott Perry, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. "We need facts, not speculation, let's get some facts!"

The Democrats' approach

Facts also were on the minds of House Democrats playing the long-term strategy with calls for an in-depth investigation. With limited political leverage in the minority party, Democrats have to be careful not to alienate voters by condemning the president without sufficient evidence.

They failed to force a House floor vote Wednesday on legislation that would create an independent investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. The rare procedural move last worked in 2015 and would have backed House Republicans into a politically difficult yes or no vote.

"It may take a little time, but this is not about us. This is bigger than us. This is bigger than President Trump. This is about the soul of our democracy," said ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings.

While two House Democrats have called for the president's impeachment, the rest of the party has remained focused on an independent investigation.

"I think that we ought to keep our focus on finding facts in the first instance and not rush to embrace the most extraordinary remedy which involves the removal of the president from office," said Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

"The country has to believe that the seriousness of conduct is such that the president cannot continue in office," Schiff said. "It cannot be perceived as an effort to nullify the election by other means."

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