‘SANCTUARY’ FOR CITIES
Flynn ‘broke law’ over Russian $$
President Trump’s former national security adviser violated the law by failing to disclose payments from Russia in documents he submitted to renew his security clearance, top members of the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday.
There’s also no record that Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, sought permission for a 2015 trip to Moscow, where he dined with President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials.
“As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey or anybody else,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the committee chair.
“And it appears as if he did take that money. It was inappropriate, and there are repercussions for the violation of law.”
Flynn was canned for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador.
Lying on national-security documents is a crime punishable by five years in behind bars, the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), said at a joint news conference with Chaffetz.
The decision on whether to prosecute would be up to the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the congressional and FBI probes into Moscow’s interference in the election because of his own conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The comments came after the two lawmakers reviewed classified documents provided by the Pentagon on Flynn’s securityclearance application in 2016.
“They are extremely troubling,” Cummings (D-Md.) said after emerging from a briefing at the Capitol.
Cummings accused the White House of stonewalling the work of the committee by failing to provide information on Flynn’s contacts with foreign nationals.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer accused the committee of making an “outlandish” request for all of Flynn’s phone calls and contacts.
Asked if Flynn broke the law, Spicer said, “I don’t know.”
Robert Kelner, Flynn’s lawyer, insisted his client was in contact with the Defense Intelligence Agency about foreign payments from the state-owned Russian television network RT.
As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey or anybodyy y else. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (above right)