By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News

Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger was on WLS Thursday morning, talking about the controversies involved President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.

Kinzinger told “The Big John and Ray Show” on WLS that recently ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s phone conversation with the Russian Ambassador before Trump took office was not a “big sin”, but he says lying about it was.

“Where the sin was, was the massive cover up. Lying to Vice President Pence, lying about it, and frankly, he spoke to the FBI so he may have lied to the FBI which, as you know is the thing that will put you down.”

Lying to the FBI is a felony under U.S. law. Kinzinger also referred to the underlying allegations of Trump team contact with Russians saying “there are some answers we need”, but he was critical of members of the intelligence community who may have been responsible for leaking sensitive material to the news media.

“I think in some cases there are people that are concerned with what they’ve seen. I think in some cases rightfully so. I think there are some answers we need. But it is highly inappropriate then, outside of the proper structure to go release these things to embarrass the President.”

Kinzinger is a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee.