Republicans need to push for an independent investigation into the Trump administration's ties to Russia or put themselves at political risk, a column in The Washington Post says.
"In short: Where there's smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke, most reasonable people will assume there is fire — or that there should be an independent investigation to determine whether there is fire," reporter Chris Cillizza says in The Fix column for the newspaper.
"Arguing that 'there's nothing to see here' is simply not a tenable position for Republicans at this point."
The column comes as the newspaper reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kisylak twice in 2016.
Those conversations "run directly counter to Sessions' assertions during his confirmation hearing to be the nation's top cop," Cillizza said.
Most congressional Republicans had been opposed to the idea of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the contacts between Russia and Trump campaign officials and surrogates, the column noted.
They insisted the ongoing FBI investigation and congressional committees looking into the issue were sufficient.
"It does not take a political genius to understand how big a problem this is for Sessions, Trump and congressional Republicans more broadly," the newspaper's column said.
"They (GOP members) need to find a way to wall themselves off from what, with each passing day, is becoming more and more toxic. Otherwise, the spillage could leak all over them."
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