Former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, told a business associate in January that a plan to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East in partnership with Russians was “good to go”, according to a whistleblower. The business colleague said that Flynn had further assured him the sanctions the U.S. had imposed on Russia would be “ripped up” by the new administration, which in turn would ease the deal, the whistleblower added.
The account was provided by the witness to the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Elijah E. Cummings, who refused to identify the witness.
However, he asked the panel’s chairman Trey Gowdy to issue a subpoena to the White House for Flynn-related documents because, he said, the committee has “credible allegations” that Flynn “sought to manipulate the course of international nuclear policy for the financial gain of his former business partners.”
The account is the strongest claim yet that the Trump administration sought to unravel the sanctions put in place by then-President Barrack Obama.
Donald Gross, a lawyer for ACU Strategic Partner, a company Flynn was working with while involved in the Trump transition, denied his company had any contact with Flynn during that time.
“For the record, no member of ACU received any communication in any form from General Flynn during the presidential campaign, the presidential transition, the inauguration, the period following the inauguration when General Flynn served as national security adviser or subsequent to General Flynn’s resignation,” he said in a statement.
Cummings responded to the ACU’s denial by saying that “General Flynn’s own financial disclosure states that he served as an advisor to ACU from April 2015 through June 2016 — which was during Donald Trump’s campaign — so it would have been odd for him not to have communicated at all with anyone at ACU during this period.”
White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, saying the information could impact the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election. Gowdy said the special counsel was investigating “criminal matters”, but added that he would not do anything to interfere with his probe.
On Friday, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his communications with the Russian ambassador regarding the sanctions.
Be the first to comment