Donald Trump and Russia: Michael Flynn facing nuclear questions

Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn is facing new allegations he used his position in the White House to promote a plan by private business interests to build US-Russian nuclear power plants in the Middle East.

The retired general, who was sacked just weeks after being sworn in, “has emerged as a central figure in multiple investigations into possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign”, says The Guardian.

The latest allegation being investigated by the congressional oversight committee is that Flynn secretly brokered a deal to pair up American consulting companies with the Saudi government and Rosatom, Russia’s government-run nuclear energy agency, to build 16 nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia.

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The Saudis would then sell energy to eight other Sunni Arab countries which would in turn buy military hardware from Russia’s state-run weapons exporters Rosoboron, a company currently under US sanctions.

CNN reports that senior House Democrats have accused Flynn of violating federal law after failing to disclose a trip he took to the Middle East in 2015 to explore the deal between the Saudi government and Russia’s nuclear power agency.

Newsweek reported in June that Flynn had travelled to Egypt and Israel to broker the $100bn deal and failed to mention the trip, his fee or meetings with foreign nationals when he applied for his security clearance upon returning to the US. Disclosure violations can carry a penalty of five years in prison.

These “stunning new allegations” shed more light on Flynn’s contacts with foreign business associates, says CNN, “all of which were allegedly kept from public view while he was serving as the nation’s chief intelligence official in the White House”.

Claims that Flynn continued to promote the deal while he was working in the White House could put him in a position in which he was prepared to testify to the inquiry into links between the Trump campaign and Russia in return for immunity, the broadcaster says.

Business Insider reports that Flynn has rejected a new request to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He also refused to comply with a previous subpoena issued in May for documents related to his communications with Russian operatives between 2015 and 2017.