House Dems question another Flynn trip
Visits to Middle East get increased scrutiny
WASHINGTON — Two top House Democrats are questioning whether Michael Flynn failed to report a 2015 trip to the Middle East to federal security clearance investigators, a potential omission that could add to the legal jeopardy the former national security adviser faces over the truthfulness of his statements.
The lawmakers — Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. — said in a letter released Monday that they believe Flynn may have violated federal law by failing to disclose the trip, which they believe involved a proposal to provide nuclear power to several Middle Eastern countries, and report any foreign contacts he had during another trip to the region that year.
The letter from Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, and Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, is the latest to call attention to potential problems with what Flynn reported to the U.S. government about his foreign travel, contacts and business after he left the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2014.
Federal and congressional probes have been looking closely at Flynn’s foreign travel and contacts as part of investigations into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion with associates of Trump or his campaign.
Separately, federal investigators have been scrutinizing Flynn’s work for a Turkish businessman, and the Defense Department’s inspector general has been looking into whether Flynn failed to get U.S. government permission to receive foreign payments. Among those payments was more than $33,000 he received from RT, the Russian state-sponsored television network that U.S. intelligence officials have branded as a propaganda arm of the Kremlin.
Flynn’s attorney, Robert Kelner, declined to comment on the allegations.
In their letter, Cummings and Engel said they believe Flynn was not forthcoming about a trip to the Middle East in the summer of 2015.
They cited a recent Newsweek report that Flynn flew to Israel and Egypt that summer as part of an effort promoting a U.S.-Russian partnership to construct nuclear reactors for civilian power needs. They also point to Flynn’s June 10, 2015, testimony before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.
During the testimony, Flynn told lawmakers he “just came from a trip — fairly extensive trip to the Middle East,” during which the issue of developing nuclear energy in the region came up. But Cummings and Engel said it “does not appear that General Flynn disclosed this trip or any foreign contacts as part of his security clearance renewal process,” noting that intentionally concealing such information is a felony.