Michael Flynn said Russia sanctions would be ‘ripped up’

Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, texted a former business partner during Trump’s inauguration in January saying that sanctions against Russia were about to be “ripped up”, according to a US congressman.

An unnamed colleague of the text message’s recipient informed the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ oversight and government reform committee, Elijah Cummings, who published the claims in an open letter yesterday.

“General Michael Flynn - within minutes of Donald Trump being sworn in as president - was communicating directly with his former business colleagues about their plans to work with Russia to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East,” the letter says.

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Their work had previously been held up by “US economic sanctions against Russia, which was to supply the reactors for the proposed project”, the BBC reports.

Flynn allegedly sent the messages to Alex Copson, managing partner of ACU Strategic Partners, a US nuclear power consultancy.

Copson reportedly told the whistleblower that he “just got this text message” from Flynn, saying that the project was “good to go” and directing Copson to contact business colleagues to “let them know to put things in place”.

“Mike has been putting everything in place for us,” Copson reportedly told the whistleblower. “This is going to make a lot of wealthy people.”

Before joining the Trump campaign, “Flynn had worked on a business venture to partner with Russia to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East until June 2016, but remained close with the people involved afterward,” The New York Times.