Flynn May Have Broken Law on Foreign Payments, Oversight Leaders Say

Senior lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee say Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, appears to have violated the law when he took payments from groups associated with foreign governments.

"Can I answer the question?"

Congressional committees are investigating Russia's attempt to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 USA presidential election as well as alleged ties between members of the Trump campaign and high-ranking Russian officials.

The Emoluments Clause has been interpreted as also applying to retired military personnel; Michael Flynn is a retired Army lieutenant. He said that, though a final determination hasn't been made, there would be "repercussions" for any violation of the law.

"As a former military officer, you simply can not take money from Russia, Turkey or anybody else", Chaffetz said. "These things happen. And as far as those documents are concerned, hopefully, we'll get them", Cummings said of the White House's denial. They were also briefed by agency officials. The congressmen declined to describe in detail the materials they reviewed.

Cummings said Flynn's failure to formally report the Russian payments on his security clearance paperwork amounted to concealment of the money, which could be prosecuted as a felony.

Despite all these very troubling developments, last Wednesday, on April 19, we received a response from the White House refusing to provide any of the documents we requested.

The Oversight Committee asked on March 22 that the White House release, among others, documents related to the RT payment to Flynn.

"That is simply unacceptable", he said. But he and Chaffetz both said that it was not for them to decide whether Flynn committed a crime. Before he stepped aside, Democrats had questioned whether the committee could conduct a credible investigation after Nunes received information at the White House about surveillance and discussed it with Trump before briefing Democrats on the committee.

A White House official told ABC the requests are "too broad to fill", and that it can't be responsive because the requests "predate the Trump administration".

It's the latest in a series of damning reports alleging that Flynn regularly violated disclosure laws and engaged in serious conflicts of interest both before and during his 23-day tenure as national security adviser.

Flynn directed the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency until he was pushed out by the Obama administration in 2014.

Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, said Tuesday that Flynn was not hiding anything, noting that he briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency on his trip to Russian Federation.

A spokesman for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Jim Kudla, has said Flynn briefed the agency in advance about his trip to Moscow "in accordance with standard security clearance procedures".

Chaffetz said that the committee will send a letter now requesting information from the inspector general at the Department of Defense and the comptroller of the US Army to determine how they will handle news of Flynn's security clearance.

Chaffetz added that while "it would be a bit strong to say that Flynn flat-out lied", he should have sought and received permission before accepting any foreign government payments.

While he was working for the Trump campaign, Flynn's firm was also paid as a lobbyist for a Turkish consultancy.

Flynn also received $530,000 previous year for consulting work done on behalf of a Turkish businessman with close ties to Turkey's government. Flynn registered retroactively with the Justice Department as a foreign agent of Turkey last month.

The committee held a high-profile public hearing on March 20 with testimony by FBI Director James Comey and NSA director Admiral Mike Rogers.

On that same point, the White House claiming executive privilege is apparently on the table as a possible response to congressional requests for information.