Mideast nuclear plan backers bragged of support of top Trump aide Flynn

ACU proposed ending Ukraine’s opposition to lifting sanctions on Russia by giving a $45 billion contract.

eral, took concrete steps to push the proposal with Trump and his aides. But they do show that Washington-based nuclear power consultancy ACU Strategic Partners believed that both Flynn, who had worked as an adviser to the firm as late as mid-2016, and Trump were firmly in its corner. “Donald Trump’s election as president is a game changer because Trump’s highest foreign policy priority is to stabilise US relations with Russia which are now at a historical low-point,” ACU’s managing director, Alex Copson, wrote in a 16 November, 2016 email to potential business partners, eight days after the election. White House officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Previously ACU told a congressional committee that they had not had any deal- ings with Flynn since May 2016, before Trump became the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.

Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the FBI about a discussion with the former Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, in late December 2016 regarding sanctions.

The documents also show that ACU proposed ending Ukraine’s opposition to lifting sanctions on Russia by giving a Ukrainian company a $45 billion contract to provide turbine generators for reactors to be built in Saudi Arabia and other Mideast nations. “The contract to state- owned Turboatom, and loans to Ukraine from Gulf Arab states, would “require Ukraine to support lifting US and EU sanctions on Russia,” Copson wrote in the 16 November email which was titled “TRUMP/ PUTIN ME Marshall plan CONCEPT.” ME stands for Middle East. The title, evoking the post-World War Two plan to rebuild Western European economies, reflected the hopes of the plan’s backers that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could cooperate on a project that would boost Middle East economies. As part of their investigation into the Trump election campaign’s ties to Russia, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Democrats on the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee are probing whether Flynn promoted the Middle East nuclear power project as national security adviser in Trump’s White House.

Flynn resigned after just 24 days as national security adviser after it became known he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence by telling him he had not discussed U.S. sanc- tions on Russia with Kislyak in late December.

In response to questions about the emails and documents, ACU referred Reuters to letters written in June and September by ACU scientist Thomas Cochran to the House Oversight Committee.

In those letters, Cochran had laid out the project’s strategy, describing a “readyto-go” consortium that included French, Russian, Israeli and Ukrainian interests, without naming specific companies.

The ACU’s nuclear reactor plan aimed to provide Washington‘s Middle East allies with nuclear power in a way that didn’t risk nuclear weapons proliferation and also helped counter Iranian influence, improve dismal US-Russian relations, and revive the moribund U.S. nuclear industry, according to the documents. US President Donald Trump said on Saturday there was “absolutely no collusion” between his campaign and Russia, his first comment on a guilty plea by his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion,“Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for fund-raising events in New York. ”There’s been absolutely no collusion, so we’re very happy.”

Flynn was the first member of Trump’s administration to plead guilty to a crime uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion by Trump aides.

As part of his plea on Friday, Flynn agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

The retired US Army lieutenant general admitted in a Washington court that he lied to FBI investigators about his discussions last December with Russia’s then-ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak.

In what appeared to be moves undermining the policies of outgoing President Barack Obama, the pair discussed US sanctions on Russia, and Flynn asked Kislyak to help delay a United Nations vote seen as damaging to Israel, according to prosecutors.

Flynn also was told by a “very senior member” of Trump’s transition team to contact Russia and other foreign governments to try to influence them ahead of the vote, the prosecutors said.

Sources told Reuters the “very senior” transition official was Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor. Kushner’s lawyer did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Flynn, a former Defense Intelligence Agency director, only held his position as Trump’s national security adviser for 24 days. He was forced to resign after he was found to have misled Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with Kislyak.