Flynn’s role in big nuclear plan under scrutiny
UNITED STATES: Investigators are examining whether United States President Trump’s former national security adviser used his White House position to further a business associate’s US$250 billion plan to build dozens of nuclear power plants across the Middle East.
The scheme is understood to have been sufficiently advanced that a company sent Mike Flynn a memo, which he then requested in the form of a policy proposal for Trump to authorise.
At the time, Flynn was national security adviser, a role he held for 24 days before he was forced out after failing to report discussions on sanctions with a Russian ambassador.
Flynn is believed to have been an adviser in 2015 and 2016 to ACU Strategic Partners and IP3/ Ironbridge, which hope to build nuclear power plants across the Middle East. Democrats in Congress say he may have violated federal law because he failed to disclose a trip to Egypt and Israel in June 2015, paid for at least in part by his business associates, when he applied to renew his security clearance. He also failed to list his ties to ACU on official disclosure forms.
IP3 later sent Flynn a memo outlining a ‘‘Marshall Plan’’ of investment in the Middle East, which would include building dozens of nuclear plants. He had advised IP3 for about five months, cutting his ties a month before Trump took office.
IP3 said the memo did not make a specific request on behalf of the company. It also said it never paid Flynn, and that he did not accept its request to be an adviser, despite his statement on the disclosure form that he had held such a role.
The retired general told Congress in 2015 that he wanted the US, rather than Russia, to be in the ‘‘driving seat’’ when it came to developing nuclear power plants in the Middle East. However, promotional material suggested that Rosoboron, a Russian stateowned arms exporter that is under US sanctions, was to be part of the multibillion-dollar project linked to Flynn.
Last week Flynn’s lawyers stopped sharing information with Trump’s legal team, a possible sign that Flynn is co-operating with Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Mueller’s investigators are looking at whether Flynn improperly hid dealings with figures linked to the Turkish and Russian governments.
Financial disclosure documents show that Flynn was involved in the Middle East nuclear project from early 2015 until late 2016, a period that overlapped with his role in the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team.
– The Times