In yet another twist to the scandal involving Russia and the White House, reports broke on Tuesday claiming that Donald Trump and House Intel Chair Devin Nunes tried to shutdown the committee's investigation in an attempt to block former acting Attorney General Sally Yates from testifying. In response, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was not pleased.
Trump's block
It's no secret that Donald Trump is not a fan of Sally Yates who, while acting as interim attorney general, instructed the Justice Department not to follow through with the now infamous "Muslim ban" executive order back in January.
Fast forward to present day and Yates was scheduled to testify in Congress as part of the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Despite this, the Washington Post reported over the last 24 hours that Trump and the White House were working with Devin Nunes to block Yates' testimony by cancelling the hearing. This was brought up during a heated exchange with Sean Spicer and the media during the March 28 press briefing.
"There's no connection," @PressSec says. "If [POTUS] puts Russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a Russian connection." pic.twitter.com/z7XxzSqQTt
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 28, 2017
While taking questions from reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Sean Spicer became increasingly frustrated with constant questions about Russia and Sally Yates.
As expected, Spicer denied any wrongdoing by the administration, claiming that the White House "took no action that prevented Ms. Yates from testifying." Spicer continued, ripping the Washington Post as "100 percent" false for reporting their story, before adding, "We have no problem with (Yates) testifying, plain and simple," he continued.
"We have no problem with [Yates] testifying," @PressSec says. "Plain and simple." https://t.co/Okz2bwUl4f pic.twitter.com/vE6AuLeMKW
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 28, 2017
Russian defense
At this point, Sean Spicer continued to get questions about the investigation into Russia, which led to the press secretary losing it over the issue in question.
"I have said it from the day I got here that there's no connection," Spicer said, telling the media, "You've got Russia!" "If the president puts Russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a Russian connection," he added.
NEW: WH "took no action that prevented [Sally] Yates from testifying" in Russia investigation, @PressSec says https://t.co/Okz2bwUl4f pic.twitter.com/R90slIlzsg
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 28, 2017
Not stopping there, Sean Spicer continued to lash out, telling the press, "at some point, report the facts!" While Spicer, Donald Trump, and the rest of the White House push back at the growing evidence against them, it doesn't appear that the media will be backing off anytime soon.