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| FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2017 file photo, then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn sits in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Documents released in a congressional inquiry show Flynn was paid more than $33,750 by RT, Russia’s government-run television system, for appearing at a Moscow event in December 2015. Flynn had retired months earlier as head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Documenting more than $67,000 in fees and expenses paid
before the presidential election to former national security adviser
Michael Flynn by Russian companies, a Democratic congressman Thursday
asked the Trump administration to provide a comprehensive record of
Flynn's contacts with foreign governments and interests.
Flynn
accepted $33,750 from Russia's government-run television system for
appearing at a Moscow event in December 2015 - a few months before Flynn
began formally advising President Donald Trump's campaign - and
thousands more in expenses covered by the network and in speech fees
from other Russian firms, according to the newly released documents.
Flynn's
financial relationship with the RT network may violate a constitutional
provision against gifts from foreign governments, said Rep. Elijah
Cummings, D-Md., who released documents obtained during the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's inquiry into Flynn's
activities before Trump appointed him to become national security
adviser.
In addition to the record of Flynn's
foreign contacts, Cummings, the senior Democrat on the committee, also
asked the Defense Department to compel Flynn to pay the money he
received to the U.S. government.
"I am writing
to request information about whether Gen. Flynn fully disclosed- as
part of the security clearance and vetting process for his return to
government- his communications with Russian agents, Turkish agents and
other foreign agents, as well as his payments from foreign sources,"
Cummings wrote. Last week, Flynn registered with the Justice Department
as a foreign agent whose lobbying work may have benefited the Turkish
government. The lobbying occurred before Election Day from August to
November, during the period when Flynn was Trump's campaign adviser.
Trump
fired Flynn as national security adviser last month, saying the former
U.S. Army lieutenant general misled Vice President Mike Pence and other
White House officials about his conversations with Russia's ambassador
to the U.S. Flynn's ties to Russia have been scrutinized by the FBI and
are part of House and Senate committee investigations into contacts
between Trump campaign officials and Russians.
The
newly-released files show that RT - designated by the U.S. intelligence
community as a propaganda arm for Russia's government - also paid for
luxury hotel stays and other expenses incurred by Flynn and his adult
son, Michael Flynn Jr., during the Moscow trip.
Flynn,
who was fired in August 2014 as chief of the U.S. Defense Intelligence
Agency, sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the climax
of the televised RT gala.
Cummings said
Flynn's acceptance of payments from RT violated the emoluments provision
of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits retired military officers
from accepting gifts from foreign powers. RT identifies itself as an
independent news network, but a report by U.S. intelligence agencies
made public in January said RT has long been considered by the U.S.
government a Russian propaganda arm.
In
letters sent to Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis and FBI Director
James Comey, Cummings said Flynn "violated the Constitution by accepting
tens of thousands of dollars from an agent of a global adversary that
attacked our democracy." Cummings was referring to the intelligence
agencies' conclusion that Russia instigated cyber-hacking of Democratic
party officials and organizations in the months before the presidential
election.
The Defense Department has said
retired military officers are covered by the emoluments clause because
they could be recalled to military service. The department has also
noted that the prohibition on accepting foreign gifts includes
commercial groups controlled by foreign governments or others
"considered instruments of the foreign government."
A
Flynn spokesman said Flynn informed the DIA before he went to Moscow
and after his return. Price Floyd, a spokesman for Flynn, said that "as
many former government officials and general officers have done, Gen.
Flynn signed with a speakers' bureau and these are examples of that
work."
DIA spokesman Jim Kudla said Thursday
that Flynn did report to the agency in advance that he was traveling to
Moscow "in accordance with standard security clearance procedures."
Separately,
the Army is looking into the matter of Flynn's reporting and
compensation, but has found no
answers yet, according to spokesman Col.
Pat Seiber.
Emails indicate Flynn initially
asked for a higher fee than the $45,000 paid to his speakers' group,
Leading Authorities Inc., but was asked to reduce his price. Flynn's
take from RT was ultimately $33,750 after Leading Authorities received
its commission.
"If Gen. Flynn is coming, we
would like him to be front and central at the Moscow conference," an RT
official told Flynn's representatives in a November 2015 email. During
his Moscow stay, Flynn was interviewed by an RT personality on national
security affairs before attending the lavish RT gala with Putin.
In
an addition to the RT payments, Flynn was also paid $11,250 for two
speeches in Washington - one in August for Volga-Dnepr Airlines, a
Russian charter cargo airline, and a second, in September, for Kaspersky
Government Security Solutions Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab,
a Russian-based cybersecurity firm.
Flynn and
his son also received an unspecified amount in expenses paid by RT for
business-class flights to and from Moscow and for their three-day stay
at the Hotel Metropol. RT representatives said the stay offered tours of
the Kremlin, RT headquarters, the Bolshoi Theater and art museums.
Another attendee who took part in some of the tours told The Associated
Press they did not see Flynn at those events.
Cummings
said he has given the Trump administration, the FBI and the Defense
Department until April 7 to produce documents related to Flynn's
contacts with foreign nationals and any documentation of funds he
received from foreign sources.
Cummings also
asked for documents about Flynn's security clearance over the past 10
years. They include how Flynn answered questions about his contact with
foreign nationals, his work for foreign governments and businesses, and
any international real estate holdings.
The
release of the documents comes one week after Flynn and his firm, Flynn
Intel Group, registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents
whose lobbying work may have benefited the government of Turkey.
The
registration involved $530,000 worth of lobbying that Flynn's firm
performed for a company owned by a Turkish businessman. In that filing,
Flynn acknowledged the lobbying on behalf of the company, Inovo BV,
"could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of
Turkey."
The AP reported last week that while
Flynn was under consideration for the top national security post, his
attorneys informed the presidential transition team that it was likely
he would have to register as a foreign agent. After Flynn was appointed,
his attorneys then notified the White House counsel's office that a
filing was imminent.
The White House initially
said it had no recollection of the second discussion but later
acknowledged such a contact had occurred.
