Prez team knew of Flynn contacts

Newly revealed e-mails show that senior members of Trump’s transition team discussed Mike Flynn’s contacts with Russia — including one missive that said Obama’ s sanctions could upset Russia, “which has just thrown the USA election” to Trump.

Despite claims by the Trump administration that Flynn acted alone, top transition officials expressed concern that Russia needed to be contacted regarding the sanctions levied by the Obama administration, according to The New York Times.

Transition adviser K.T. McFarland sent an e-mail on Dec. 29 that said the sanctions were in retaliation for Russia meddling in the US presidential election.

McFarland said in the e-mail obtained by the Times that the sanctions situation made it difficult for Trump to ease tensions with Russia, “which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him.”

McFarland also wrote just hours after the sanctions were announced that Flynn would be speaking with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the Times reported.

President Trump, meanwhile, insisted again Saturday that his campaign didn’t collude with Russia and that he had good reason to get rid of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President [Mike Pence] and the FBI,” Trump tweeted. “He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. was nothing to hide!”

The ex-general resigned in February after it became clear he illicitly communicated with Russia’s US ambassador and misled Pence and White House officials.

Some Democrats vented that Trump’s tweet about Flynn amounted to a confession.

Flynn on Friday pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI on Jan. 24 about his talks with Kislyak.

As part of the plea, Flynn agreed to help special counsel Robert Mueller by telling all he knew about possible collusion between Trump’s election campaign and Russia. There