Mitch McConnell pushes for subpoena of Obama-era officials

Speaking from the Senate floor, McConnell referenced Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham's announcement that he will move forward in scheduling a vote for a wide-ranging subpoena on June 4.

“Senate Republicans are taking steps to issue new subpoenas to a wide variety of Obama administration officials... The American people deserve answers about how such abuses could happen. And we intend to get those answers,” he said.

Graham announced Monday evening that the committee would take a vote on the subpoena as a portion of an investigation into the court installed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and "Crossfire Hurrican," the name for the FBI's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Graham's subpoena would include several officials, including Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former national security advisor Susan Rice, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and former FBI Director James Comey.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is already months into a sweeping probe on the possible wrongdoing within the Obama administration, and has said that he will be looking to Trump national security advisor, Michael Flynn.

Trump has publicly encouraged Republicans to investigate the decisions made by the Obama-era Justice Department and FBI.

“Mitch, I love you, but this is 100% true. Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught. They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country. Don’t let them get away with this!“ Trump tweeted with regard to the Obama administration.

McConnell, on Tuesday, said the Obama administration had used the power of the FISA court to "snoop" on Trump's campaign.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found a total of 17 inaccuracies and omissions in the FISA warrants which involved former Trump campaign advisor, Carter Page. Horowitz added that he did not think the opening of the investigation was politically motivated.

“This is just one of the realities that President Trump’s Democratic critics spent years calling conspiracy theories or inventions of the president’s mind. Yet here it is, in black and white, from exactly the kind of independent inspector general that Democrats rush to embrace when convenient,” McConnell said.