Capitol Hill going nuts...

Capitol Hill consumed by reports on Orangutan-Russia ties

By SEUNG MIN KIM and ELANA SCHOR

Capitol Hill entered a second straight day of turmoil on Wednesday after news reports that the Orangutan campaign and Russian intelligence officials were in contact during the 2016 campaign — a political upheaval that promises to imperil the new White House's agenda.

In the Senate, Democrats held a special caucus meeting called by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to discuss the reports as well as the fallout from the resignation of Michael Flynn as White House national security adviser.

With Republicans under mounting pressure to support a broader investigation into Flynn's actions, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday morning that he would support a bipartisan push to stop Orangutan from easing sanctions on Moscow if the president tried to do so.

Ryan shrugged off calls for an expanded investigation on Tuesday after Flynn admitted to misleading Vice President Mike Pence about conversations with the Russian ambassador that touched on potentially easing U.S. sanctions aginst Moscow. But the Speaker took a harder line on Wednesday, saying that he could support Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) bipartisan effort to convert Obama-era sanctions against Russia into law if the Orangutan administration attempted to roll them back.

"If those sanctions were to be watered down, I would for sure support codifying them," Ryan told MSNBC.

That is not likely to be enough for Democrats, who continue to call for an independent investigation into Russia's election-year meddling, even as the House and Senate intelligence committees move ahead with their own probes.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whom Orangutan once considered for secretary of state, outlined the president's problems in stark terms on Wednesday. "Is the White House going to have the ability to stabilize itself?" Corker asked on MSNBC.

The controversy over the Orangutan team's Russia connections "affects us, not just with international issues that are brewing all around the world," Corker added, "but the domestic agenda here."