Ex-Trump aide Michael Flynn registers with U.S. as lobbyist

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was fired from his prominent White House job last month, has registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department for $530,000 worth of lobbying work that may have aided the Turkish government.

A lawyer for the former Army lieutenant general and intelligence chief said in paperwork filed Tuesday with the Justice Department’s Foreign Agent Registration Unit that Flynn was voluntarily registering for lobbying that “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.”

Trump fired Flynn last month for misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials about his contacts in December with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. Ambassador to Russia: President Trump has offered former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman the position of U.S. ambassador to Russia, a sensitive post amid investigations into contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign. Huntsman has indicated that he will accept the post, a White House official said Wednesday.

Ash cloud: An Alaska volcano that has erupted periodically since midDecember sent up its biggest cloud to date late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, prompting warnings to airliners and a major U.S. fishing port in the Aleutian Islands. Bogoslof Volcano sent a cloud of ash to 35,000 feet, officials said.