Trump says Flynn’s Russia dealings lawful

> Former adviser fired ‘because he lied to FBI, VP’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that actions by Michael Flynn during the presidential transition were lawful, and that he had to fire the then-national security adviser because he had lied to the FBI and VicePresident Mike Pence.

Trump’s comment suggested he may have known Flynn lied to FBI before he urged the bureau’s director not to investigate his ex-aide, legal experts said.

But they noted that it was unclear from the tweeted comment exactly what the president knew and when.

Flynn is the first member of Trump’s administration to plead guilty to a crime uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into Russian attempts to influence last year’s US presidential election and possible collusion by Trump aides.

“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the vice-president and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies,” Trump said on Twitter while he was in New York.

“It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”

Flynn, who on Friday pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, is a former Defence Intelligence Agency director who was Trump’s national security adviser only for 24 days.

He was forced to resign after he was found to have misled Pence about his discussions with Russia’s then-ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak.

“What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion,” Trump said.

“There’s been absolutely no collusion, so we’re very happy.”

Establishing when Trump was told Flynn lied to the FBI agents could be key to determining if the president acted improperly.

According to a person familiar with the matter, during a conversation between White House counsel Don McGahn and then-acting attorney general Sally Yates in January, Yates told McGahn that Flynn had told FBI agents the same thing he had told Pence.

This was the same conversation reported earlier this year in which Yates told McGahn that Flynn had misled the vice-president about his conversations with the Russian ambassador and that he might be compromised, the person said.

However, Yates did not give McGahn the impression that the FBI was actively pursuing Flynn for lying, the source said.

McGahn did not believe the FBI was investigating Flynn for lying because FBI had not revoked his security clearance, the person said, adding McGahn shared the information from Yates with Trump.

Legal experts said if Trump knew Flynn lied to FBI and then pressured thendirector James Comey not to investigate him, that would be problematic.

If that was the case Trump’s tweet “absolutely bolsters an obstruction of justice charge”, former federal prosecutor Jimmy Gurule said.

“It is evidence of the crucial question of whether Trump acted with a corrupt intent.” – Reuters