Flynn May Have Violated Federal Law By Not Disclosing Business Dealings

After reviewing classified documents, the House oversight committee says
that former Trump security adviser Michael Flynn may have violated federal law.

When President Trump's first security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, applied for a security clearance to work in the administration, he did not fully disclose his business dealing with Russia. In failing to do so, he may have violated federal law.

After the House oversight committee reviewed classified documents related to Flynn, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of that committee, said Flynn may have inappropriately accepted the funds without permission.

Whether or not Flynn properly disclosed payments from foreign governments on his security clearance application was the subject of a House oversight committee meeting on April 25.

At this point, it appears that Flynn did not disclose the more than $45,000 he was paid for a speech he gave to RT-TV in Russia. Oversight investigators also revealed that Flynn had received $530,000 for work his lobbying firm did, which may have benefited the Republic of Turkey.

“As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey, or anybody else,” Chaffetz said. “And it appears as if he did take that money. It was inappropriate and there are repercussions for a violation of law.”

The House and Senate Intelligence Committees have been leading the investigations into Russia's interference in the U.S. elections. The House oversight committee, however, has set its sights on Flynn's work, particularly in light of the fact that he was forced to resign as Trump's national security adviser after it was disclosed that he had withheld information about communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn, along with Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump son-in-law and Whtie House aid Jared Kushner, and Trump campaign staffer and foreign policy adviser Carter Page, are under investigation by the House and Senate intelligence committees.

After he resigned, Flynn retained a lawyer and has offered to testify to the committees in exchange for immunity from prosecution. As yet, nobody has taken him up on his offer.

The White House has refused to provide documents related to Flynn and his resignation that were requested by the House oversight committee, according to CNN. White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short referred some requests to the Department of Defense and stated that “we are unable to accommodate” others.