The current occupant of the White House has tried to distance himself from disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn despite the praise he previously heaped upon him. And now it’s revealed that Flynn was warned in 2014 by the Defense Intelligence Agency not to accept money from foreign governments as he moved into the private sector, according to new documents obtained by the House oversight committee, CNN reports.
Nevertheless, he persisted and took money from Russian and Turkish governments.
Breaking: DIA warned Michael Flynn in 2014 against taking foreign payments, DOD IG has launched probe, House Oversight Cmte tells CNN
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 27, 2017
An investigation has been launched by the Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee revealed Thursday.
WGME reports:
Cummings released a letter from the inspector general to Chairman Jason Chaffetz confirming an investigation of whether Flynn received approval before accepting payments from foreign governments.
“These documents raise grave questions about why General Flynn concealed the payments he received from foreign sources after he was warned explicitly by the Pentagon,” said Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, in a statement. “Our next step is to get the documents we are seeking from the White House so we can complete our investigation. I thank the Department of Defense for providing us with unclassified versions of these documents.”
.@RepCummings Second doc from @RepCummings: newly unclassified DIA letter to Committee. #Flynn never reported #Russian payments or sought permission. pic.twitter.com/9gKMLZhmc6
— House OversightDems (@OversightDems) April 27, 2017
Cummings said during a news conference Thursday that he had viewed classified documents relating to Flynn which raised grave concerns, and he called on the White House to declassify them.
“I do not understand why the White House is covering for Michael Flynn…after the president fired him for lying,” Cummings said.
Following Michael Flynn’s forced resignation, Trump called out the ‘fake news’ media and said that his former National Security Adviser was a “wonderful” man. He then blamed “criminal” leaks for the scandal. And now the Trump administration is trying to distance itself from the disgraced retired general.
During the Republican National Convention in July last year when Trump accepted his nomination to run for president, Flynn joined crowds in chanting, “Lock her up!” in reference to Hillary Clinton. While the crowd chanted, Flynn said, “If I did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today.”
Cummings has called for a “wide range of documents” regarding Flynn. The White House recently declined that request. And that’s totally not suspicious at all! Chaffetz, a Trump loyalist, literally blamed former president Barack Obama for Flynn’s scandal. He said that after admitting that Flynn did not comply with the law. You can’t make this stuff up.
This new revelation is probably what Trump is trying to distract us from by unleashing another crazy-time tweetstorm.
Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images.
