While in the White House, Flynn reportedly pushed policy for former business associate

Michael Flynn.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

In late January, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn forwarded an email to members of his staff from a onetime business associate, and ordered them to turn the memo about building nuclear power plants in the Middle East into policy for President Trump's approval, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

It "made no sense" for him to push the idea, one person told the Post, because "it was a business proposal in the form of a policy paper." The email was written by the co-founder of IP3, a company Flynn advised from August to December 2016, and Flynn told staffers to "essentially put it on White House letterhead and send it to the president for approval," a person familiar with Flynn's directions told the Post. Several administration officials were worried about Flynn having a conflict of interest, and it's unclear if Trump ever saw the proposal.

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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.