Report: Justice Dept. warned the White House about Flynn possibly misleading administration officials


In late January, Sally Yates, then serving as the acting attorney general of the United States, warned the White House that she believed President Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had misled senior administration officials about the nature of his talks with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and that Flynn was potentially susceptible to Russian blackmail, current and former U.S. officials told The Washington Post.
Flynn had said multiple times that he and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak had not discussed the sanctions imposed by former President Barack Obama in response to Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election, but a spokesman for Flynn told the Post last week that he "couldn't be certain that the topic never came up." Flynn's account was backed up by Vice President Mike Pence and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. It is unclear what White House counsel Donald McGahn did with the information from Yates, who believed that Pence had a right to know what Flynn had done and believed it was "highly significant" and "potentially illegal," an official with knowledge of her approach told the Post.
A senior administration official told the Post that the White House was aware of the calls and they had been "working on this for weeks," but other current and former officials said that while they believed Pence had been misled about Flynn's communications with Kislyak, they "couldn't rule out that Flynn was acting with the knowledge of others in the transition." Read the entire report at The Washington Post.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants