Query from Flynn aide tipped staffers
Request startled White House team
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In late November, a member of Donald Trump’s transition team approached national security officials in the Obama White House with a curious request: Could the incoming team get a copy of the classified CIA profile on Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States?
Marshall Billingslea, a former Pentagon and NATO official, wanted the information for his boss, Michael Flynn, who had been tapped by Mr. Trump to serve as White House national security adviser. Mr. Billingslea knew Mr. Flynn would be speaking to Kislyak, according to two former Obama administration officials, and seemed concerned Mr. Flynn did not fully understand he was dealing with a man rumored to have ties to Russian intelligence agencies.
To the Obama White House, Mr. Billingslea’s concerns were startling: a member of Mr. Trump’s own team suggesting the incoming Trump administration might be in over its head in dealing with an adversary.
The request now stands out as a warning signal for Obama officials who would soon see Mr. Flynn’s contacts with the Russian spiral into a controversy that would cost him his job and lead to a series of shocking accusations hurled by Mr. Trump against his predecessor’s administration.
In the following weeks, the Obama White House would grow deeply distrustful of Mr. Trump’s dealing with the Kremlin and anxious about his team’s ties. The concern — compounded by surge of new intelligence, including evidence of multiple calls, texts and at least one in-person meeting between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak — would eventually grow so great Obama advisers delayed telling Mr. Trump’s team about plans to punish Russia for its election meddling. Obama officials worried the incoming administration might tip off Moscow, according to one Obama adviser.
The Trump White House declined to comment.
This account of the closing days of the Obama administration is based on interviews with 11 current and former U.S. officials, including seven with key roles in the Obama administration. The officials reveal an administration gripped by mounting anxiety over Russia’s election meddling and racing to grasp the Trump team’s possible involvement before exiting the White House. Most of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive national security information.
The Obama White House’s role in the Russia controversy will come under fresh scrutiny Monday. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former deputy Attorney General Sally Yates are slated to testify before lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of three committees investigating Mr. Trump’s associates links to Moscow.
Mr. Trump has said he has no nefarious ties to Russia and isn’t aware of any involvement by his aides in Moscow’s interference in the election. He’s dismissed an FBI and congressional probes into his campaign’s possible ties to the election meddling as a “hoax” driven by Democrats.
Ms. Yates, an Obama administration official who carried over into the Trump administration, is expected to tell lawmakers that she expressed alarm to the Trump White House about Mr. Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador. Mr. Trump fired Ms. Yates days later, after she told the Justice Department to not enforce the new president’s travel and immigration ban. Mr. Flynn was forced to resign three weeks later for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the content of his discussions with Mr. Kislyak.
Ms. Yates’s warnings about Mr. Flynn in January capped weeks of building concern among top Obama officials. The president himself that month told one of his closest advisers that the FBI, which by then had been investigating Trump associates’ possible ties to Russia for about six months, seemed particularly focused on Mr. Flynn.
Obama aides described Mr. Flynn as notably dismissive of the threat Russia posed to the United States when discussing policy in transition meetings with outgoing national security adviser Susan Rice and other top officials.
Officials also found it curious that Mr. Billingslea only ever asked Obama’s National Security Council for one classified leadership profile to give to Mr. Flynn: the internal document on Mr. Kislyak.
When reached by the AP, Mr. Billingslea refused to comment. Last month, Mr. Trump said he intended to nominate Mr. Billingslea to serve as assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department.