A top Democratic senator said Thursday that there's "powerful" evidence that President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, "broke significant criminal laws" when he accepted foreign payments.
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn will be investigated by the Defense Department Inspector General for receiving undisclosed payments from the Russian government, which is illegal for former military officers without express permission.
The new probe compounds the legal problems Flynn faces for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state-run Russia Today (RT) television network and a firm owned by a Turkish businessman after the former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director retired as an Army lieutenant general in 2014.
He pointed out that Flynn, who was sacked in 2014, still had an "active security clearance" from the Obama administration when he was named national security adviser.
A key document released Thursday by Cummings showed that Flynn was warned by a Defense Intelligence Agency official in October 2014 that he would need clearance from the agency before he could accept any earnings linked to foreign governments.
Flynn's lawyer claimed a few days ago that he notified DIA, his former agency, before he went to Moscow in 2015 and received almost $35,000 for an appearance from RT.
Mr Cummings also lashed out at the White House for not providing any documentation on Mr Flynn in response to the committee's request.
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"We have no evidence, zilch, that he obtain permission from the secretary of the army and the Secretary of State to accept any foreign government payments, as required by law", Cummings added.
Other documents released by the panel, including an April 2017 letter from the DIA to the committee, showed that DIA officials never received any records or disclosure from Flynn that he'd been paid by RT or any foreign sources.
"If they think there's wrongdoing, then the department's inspector general should look into that", he said.
The latest release of documents comes amid congressional investigations of possible ties between Trump's election campaign and Russian Federation.
Through his lawyer, Flynn has offered to testify to the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committee investigations, but only after obtaining a grant of immunity against subsequent prosecution. Those include payments related to his appearance at a dinner thrown by the Kremlin-controlled news organization RT and his work as a foreign agent for Turkish interests.
But the White House told the committee recently that documents the lawmakers sought concerning Flynn's security clearance would not be turned over because they contained classified information.
Cummings also accused the White House of "covering up" for Flynn, who was dismissed after allegedly misleading Vice President Pence about past contact with the Russian ambassador. There is a paper trail that the White House does not want our committee to follow, but let it be known that we will follow it. Flynn retroactively registered as a foreign lobbyist with the Department of Justice in March.
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