average is to get all of our american citizens and afghan partners out. i believe the president should absolutely make a public announcement as well as tell dod and department of state we re going to stay in afghanistan for as long as it takes to get our citizens home and get our partners out, period. and then, also, authorize the department of defense to apply all the resources available to them or what they need that they may not have with them to accomplish that mission. and if that means establishing safe corridors which is what senator lindsey graham and i suggest or pick up hubs. whatever is necessary to break the obstacles and impediments that are stopping particularly our afghan partners from making it through the checkpoints that the taliban have. some of our citizens i suspect are tied up. i have yet to hear a plan. what do we do with all the people who can t get to kabul because the taliban checkpoints are blocking them from doing that so that s job one.
house oversight chairman jason chaffetz says national security advisor michael flynn likely violated federal law by failing to disclose his business dealings with russia and turkey. as a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from russia, turkey, or anybody else. and it appears as if he did take that money. it was inappropriate. and there are repercussions for the violation of law. clearly, i agree with the chairman. i mean, he was supposed to get permission and he was supposed to report and he didn t period. flynn received $45,000 for attending a gala celebrating r.t. russian state-run news channel december of 2015. and he earned more than $500,000 for lobbying on behalf of turkey. now, in a statement to nbc news today general flynn s lawyer said in part that flynn had briefed the defense intelligence agency, a component agency of d.o.d. extensively, regarding the r.t. speaking event trip. and today the top democrat on
clearance. there is a whole process we go through. but it relies upon the information being supplied by that individual and if that is not accurate and there is no way of knowing about income received from a foreign government, it can go unnoticed. but it s against the law to give misinformation during the process of getting clearance. and, of course, the thing that chairman chaffetz said i hadn t thought about, as a former military he can be called back into service and why it is a different rule for people in the military having to inform the department of defense. let me move on, senator. i want to turn to north korea. today north korea staged a massive artillery exercise like the one seen here highlighting their ability to hammer south korea with conventional weapons. meanwhile, the new york times reporting that intelligence reports estimate that north korea could be capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks. also today, u.s. guided missile sub arrived for
in listening to both you and congressman elijah cummings, the ranking member, it looks like you re both on the same page of this. do you have any differences with him on this? i think we re pretty much on the same page. i think as i heard mr. cummings is seeking more information from the white house, but obviously we came together today to do this joiptly. we ve got a letter that we re going to do jointly to the department of defense, specifically the secretary of the army seeking final determination. but as the oversight committee is concerned on this particular topic, we ve pretty much exhausted it. now the department of defense, specifically the army, they ve got to make this final determination. all right. to shorthand this, would you say after what you reviewed today that general flynn is in a heap of trouble? yes, yes. clearly you can t do this. you can t as a former military officer there is nothing specifically with mr. flynn or general flynn, it has everything to d
for months now to get paperwork. but we just don t see any paperwork properly filed seeking permission or being granted that permission. have you tried to summon flynn formally like with a subpoena or informally to come testify before your committee? look, the bigger, broader inquiry will be spearheaded by the select committee on intelligence. i don t necessarily need to hear directly from general flynn. i m looking for paperwork. i m looking for a paper trail. i m looking for evidence. i m looking for something that shows and demonstrates that he did this by the letter of the law. i see none of that and that s why i know the inspector general, the department of defense, is engaged. the comp controller is going to have to get involved. somebody needs to make a final determination. once they ve made that final determination, he likely will have to repay that amount through the treasury. there is precedent for that. and above and beyond that, i don t know what the department of justi