Michael Flynn might have broken the law, House oversight leaders say
Michael Flynn. Photo by JFK Jr. Forum, Photographer Kristyn Ulanday
Leaders of the House Oversight Committee said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, might have broken the law by failing to disclose income he earned from a Russian-funded television station.
Flynn apparently failed to get permission to accept the money and apparently failed to disclose the income, according to Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Elijah Cummings of Maryland. Publications reporting on their announcement include the Washington Post, CNN, ABC News and the New York Times.
Flynn was paid $45,000 to speak at an event sponsored by RT, a television station funded by the Russian government. He alos was paid more than $500,000 for lobbying on behalf of Turkey, according to the Washington Post story.
“As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey, or anybody else, and it appears as if he did take that money,” Chaffetz said.
Flynn headed the Defense Intelligence Agency before retiring in 2014 in a leadership shake-up. He still had a security clearance when he spoke at the RT event in late 2015, according to ABC. Trump fired Flynn as national security adviser in February amid allegations that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
A lawyer for Flynn, Robert Kelner, told ABC that Flynn had briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency about the speaking engagement with RT both before and after the event.
