Flynn again in spotlight for unreported foreign business deals
WASHINGTON — Several former business partners of Michael Flynn have provided evidence to Congress confirming that the former White House national security adviser pursued a proposed U.S.-Russia partnership to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East, efforts he failed to disclose when he sought to renew his security clearance last year.
In addition, Flynn didn’t disclose that he was paid $25,000 for championing the plan, which also envisioned financing from Saudi Arabia, according to documents obtained by Democrats on two House committees investigating his activities.
Flynn, a former top campaign aide to President Donald Trump, could face prison time for failing to reveal the foreign trip and contacts on his security clearance renewal application, or to disclose it to investigators during his background check. Both could be criminal violations.
Timeline of plan eyed
Flynn resigned his White House post after only a month because he misled administration officials about a telephone call he held during the transition with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to discuss sanctions against Russia.
The Democrats on the two House committees — Oversight and Government Reform, and Foreign Affairs — have forwarded the new information to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election. He is already looking into whether Flynn knowingly received secret payments from the Turkish government during the campaign.
A key question raised by the Democratic lawmakers is whether Flynn continued to work on the nuclear plan during the presidential transition, and then when he was ensconced as White House national security adviser after Trump’s inauguration, “without disclosing his foreign travel or contacts,” they wrote in a letter dated Wednesday to Flynn’s nuclear plan partners seeking additional information. Newsweek disclosed the proposed nuclear project in a story last June.
“The American people deserve to know whether General Flynn was secretly promoting the private interests of these businesses while he was a campaign adviser, a transition official, or President Trump’s National Security Adviser,” said Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, and Eliot Engel of New York, the ranking members of the Oversight and Foreign Affairs panels, respectively.
Viewed as way to tilt Russia
One of Flynn’s partners told the lawmakers that the proposed nuclear project was part of the Trump administration’s efforts to “stabilize and improve relations with Russia.”
A White House spokesman could not be reached for comment, nor could Flynn’s attorney, Robert Kelner.
The proposed American-Russian-Saudi Arabian venture was hatched by Flynn, who has his own lobbying firm, along with several consulting companies: ACU Strategic Partners and X-Co Dynamics/IronBridge Group, whose leaderships include several retired high-ranking military officers.
Newsweek reported that the plan was for the U.S. and Russia to build and operate nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia, then sell the fuel throughout the Middle East. It also was viewed as a way to tilt Russia away from Iran by substituting its profits from arms sales to Tehran with revenue from the nuclear power plants.