Whistle-blower testimony raises more questions on Flynn
Project sacked by sanctions on Russia
WASHINGTON — As Donald Trump delivered his presidential inaugural address last January, his national security adviser Michael Flynn told a former business associate in text messages that a private plan to build nuclear reactors in the Mideast was “good to go” and that U.S. sanctions hobbling the plan would soon be “ripped up,” a whistleblower told congressional investigators.
The witness did not specify which sanctions Mr. Flynn was referring to in his texts. But the nuclear project that Mr. Flynn and his business associate had worked on together was stymied by U.S. financial sanctions on Russia.
The witness’ account, made public Wednesday by the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, raises new concerns about the extent to which Mr. Flynn may have blurred his private and public interests during his brief stint inside the White House.
Mr. Trump fired Mr. Flynn in February, saying he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, pleaded guilty in federal court last week to one count of making false statements to the FBI and is now a cooperating witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible coordination between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russian intermediaries during the 2016 election.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Wednesday the whistleblower’s allegations raise concerns that Mr. Flynn improperly aided the nuclear project after joining the White House as one of Mr. Trump’s top national security officials. The project has yet to get off the ground.
Mr. Cummings detailed the whistleblower’s allegations in a letter to committee chairman Trey Gowdy, RS.C., and urged Mr. Gowdy to authorize subpoenas to Mr. Flynn and his business associates to learn more about his efforts.
In a reply late Wednesday, Mr. Gowdy said he had shared Mr. Cummings’ letter with Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman and ranking Democrat heading the House intelligence committee inquiry into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Mr. Gowdy spurned Mr. Cummings’ request for subpoenas, echoing his replies to previous Cummings subpoena requests.
“If you have evidence of a crime, you should provide it to the Special Counsel immediately,” Mr. Gowdy wrote.
Mr. Flynn had been a paid consultant for the venture before he joined the Trump campaign last year. The plan, backed by a group of investors, nuclear power adherents and former U.S. military officers, was to construct dozens of nuclear reactors across the Mideast with aid from Russian and other international private interests.
House Democrats noted that a federal ethics law requires White House officials to refrain for a year from dealing with any outside interests they had previously worked with on private business.
“Our committee has credible allegations that President Trump’s national security adviser sought to manipulate the course of international nuclear policy for the financial gain of his former business partners,” Mr. Cummings said.
The whistle-blower told House Democrats that while Mr. Trump spoke in January, Mr. Flynn texted from the Capitol steps to Alex Copson, the managing director of ACU Strategic Partners and the nuclear project’s main promoter. The whistleblower, whose identity was not revealed in Mr. Cummings’ letter, said that during a conversation, Mr. Copson described his messages with Mr. Flynn and briefly flashed one of the texts, which appeared to have been sent 10 minutes after Mr. Trump was sworn in as president.
“Mike has been putting everything in place for us,” Mr. Copson said, according to the whistle-blower. Mr. Copson added that “this is going to make a lot of very wealthy people.” The whistle-blower also said that Mr. Copson intimated that Mr. Flynn would ensure that U.S. financial sanctions hobbling the nuclear project were going to be “ripped up,” allowing investment money to start flowing into the project.
Attorneys for Mr. Flynn and Mr. Copson did not immediately return email and phone requests for comment. White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment on the allegation.
In Mr. Flynn’s plea agreement last week, prosecutors said he lied to FBI agents about his discussions on sanctions against Russia with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition.