Russian companies paid Flynn $67,000
WASHINGTON — Former national security advisor Michael Flynn was paid more than $67,000 by Russian companies before the presidential election, according to documents released by a Democratic congressman.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland asked the Trump administration to provide a comprehensive record of Flynn’s contacts with foreign governments and interests.
Flynn’s ties to Russia have been scrutinized by the FBI and are part of House and Senate committee investigations into contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians. The investigation comes as U.S. intelligence officials say Russia meddled in the presidential election by hacking Democratic officials’ emails.
According to the documents, Flynn accepted $33,750 from Russia’s government-run television system for appearing at a Moscow event in December 2015 — a few months before he began formally advising the Trump campaign — and thousands more in expenses covered by the network and in speech fees from other Russian firms.
Flynn’s financial relationship with the RT network may violate a constitutional provision against gifts from foreign governments and he should pay the money to the U.S. government, said Cummings, senior Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Last week, Flynn registered retroactively with the Justice Department as a foreign agent whose lobbying work may have benefited the Turkish government. The lobbying occurred before election day, from August to November, during the period when Flynn was a Trump campaign advisor.
President Trump dismissed Flynn as national security advisor last month, saying the former Army lieutenant general misled Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
The newly released files show that RT — designated by U.S. intelligence as a propaganda arm for Russia’s government — also paid for hotel stays and other expenses incurred by Flynn and his adult son, Michael Flynn Jr., during the Moscow trip. Flynn, who was fired in August 2014 as chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the RT gala.
Cummings said Flynn’s acceptance of RT payments violated the emoluments provision of the Constitution, which bars retired military officers from accepting gifts from foreign powers.
In letters sent to Trump, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and FBI Director James Comey, Cummings said Flynn “violated the Constitution by accepting tens of thousands of dollars from an agent of a global adversary that attacked our democracy.” Cummings was referring to the intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia instigated cyberhacking of Democratic officials in the months before the presidential election.
The Defense Department has said retired military officers are covered by the emoluments clause because they could be recalled to military service. The department has also noted that the prohibition on accepting foreign gifts includes commercial groups controlled by foreign governments or others “considered instruments of the foreign government.”
Anna Belkina, RT’s head of communications, said Friday that the network’s payments to Flynn through his speakers’ group were “standard practice.” She added that the committee’s disclosures of payments and emails involving its officials exposed the network’s confidential “exchanges and negotiations.” She did not address U.S. charges that RT is a propaganda outlet.
Price Floyd, a Flynn spokesman, said Flynn informed the DIA before he went to Moscow and after his return. “As many former government officials and general officers have done, Gen. Flynn signed with a speakers’ bureau and these are examples of that work,” Floyd said.
A DIA spokesman confirmed that Flynn reported in advance that he was traveling to Moscow “in accordance with standard security clearance procedures.”