White House counsel reportedly knew about possible Flynn violations in January

Don McGahn.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Confidential documents turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team by the White House indicate that White House Counsel Don McGahn researched both the Logan Act and federal law dealing with lying to federal investigators and warned President Trump about then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn possibly violating both, Foreign Policy reports.

FP's Murray Waas spoke with three people with knowledge of the records and was read portions of the documents, which show that McGahn conducted his research shortly after he was told in late January by then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates that during the transition, Flynn told Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak not to worry about sanctions imposed by outgoing President Barack Obama. Despite Yates' warning and apparently McGahn's as well, Trump kept Flynn for two more weeks, firing him in mid-February and saying it was because Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his Kislyak conversations.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.