Report: Russian hackers discussed getting stolen Clinton emails to Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Before he died in May, a longtime Republican operative, Peter W. Smith, told The Wall Street Journal during an interview that last fall he gathered together a small group of researchers and attorneys in an attempt to track down emails he thought had been stolen from Hillary Clinton's private server, possibly by Russian hackers.

A computer security expert named Eric York told WSJ that when Smith asked him to work on the project, he implied Michael Flynn, at the time a senior adviser to Donald Trump's campaign, was involved. "He said, 'I'm talking to Michael Flynn about this — if you find anything, can you let me know?'" York said. Smith told WSJ he knew Flynn, but did not say if he was part of the group; Flynn did not respond to a request for comment. Emails written by Smith and one of his associates show that their group considered Flynn and the business he started in 2014, Flynn Intel Group, to be connections, and an anti-Clinton research document put together by Smith and his crew mentioned that Flynn's son, Michael G. Flynn, was associated with the effort, WSJ reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.