Sessions said the government might not have noticed Flynn's foreign government dealings because vetting is hard

(Image credit: Screenshot/Good Morning America via Twitter)

published 28 April 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday suggested it's reasonable to believe the government's vetting of ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn simply didn't catch the fact that he'd made tens of thousands of dollars off his work for foreign governments. Sessions said in a series of television interviews on Today and Good Morning America that he's confident Trump's transition team, which was tasked with vetting Flynn, is doing "the best they can." "We need to do a good job of vetting that," Sessions said, but paid foreign government work is "a complex issue, and I'm not sure anyone could be expected to find that."

The heads of the House Oversight Committee revealed this week that Flynn may have broken the law by failing to inform the U.S. government of his work or disclose his payments. Flynn made an estimated $56,200 in 2015 from three firms with ties to the Russian government. His lobbying company also reportedly made more than $500,000 for its work on behalf of the Turkish government.