Yates: Flynn was Russian blackmail target

WASHINGTON—Sally Yates, the acting attorney general during the Trump administration’s first week and a half in office, confirmed she warned the White House that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn lied to his colleagues and was vulnerable to Russian blackmail.

“The vice president was unknowingly making false statements to the American public, and Gen. Flynn was compromised by the Russians,” Yates told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism Monday.

Yates, joined by former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, testified before the subcommittee in an attempt to shed light on Flynn’s relationship with Russia and how that could relate to possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election process.

Clapper and the rest of the intelligence community concluded on Jan. 5 that the Kremlin ordered interference in the election with the intent of securing victory for Donald Trump. Yates revealed she held two in-person meetings and one phone call with White House officials to detail Flynn’s misconduct regarding Russian communication starting on Jan. 26. This conflicts with previous White House statements regarding Flynn’s imbroglio.

While Trump awaited Senate confirmation of his choice for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, Yates led the Justice Department until Jan. 30, when Trump fired her for not enforcing his executive order on immigration.

Yates told the panel Monday she learned through incidental intelligence collection that Flynn had in fact spoken with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, despite his telling Vice President Mike Pence otherwise.

Yates said she then had a meeting with White House counsel Donald McGahn to tell him Flynn had lied to Pence and the vice president was unknowingly spreading the lie. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters previously that the administration knew of Yates’ warnings about Flynn, but her communication was merely a “heads up” and not a detailed accusation. Yates, however, said McGahn took the warning seriously, and the first thing he wanted to clarify was why one White House official lying to another concerned the Justice Department.

“To state the obvious, you don't want your national security adviser compromised by the Russians,” explained Yates, who added she believed it was in the public interest to clarify the false information about Flynn’s conduct.

Yates said, in addition to lying, Flynn’s underlying conduct was problematic, but she declined to elaborate further, stating the information is classified.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the subcommittee, said lawmakers agree on some parts of the Russia narrative but not all of it.

“It was the Russians who hacked [Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John] Podesta’s emails, it was the Russians who broke into the Democratic National Committee, and it was the Russians who helped empower WikiLeaks,” he said. “From my point of view, there’s no doubt in my mind it was the Russians involved in all the things I just described, not some 400-pound guy sitting on a bed or any other country.”

Republicans on the panel questioned Clapper and Yates about how Flynn’s Russian conversations leaked to the media. Both denied knowledge of how The Washington Post obtained the information that led to Flynn’s dismissal on Feb. 13—18 days after Yates first alerted the White House.

Democrats praised the whistleblowers for exposing misconduct within the Trump administration, indicating that others also may be compromised.

But Clapper said Americans should be most concerned with Russia’s success in creating doubt in U.S. democracy.

“[The Russians] must be congratulating themselves for having exceeded their wildest expectations,” he said. “They are now emboldened to continue such activities in the future, both here and around the world, and to do so even more intensely.”

FBI Director James Comey revealed in March that the bureau is actively investigating Russian inference in the election, which includes possible connections to Trump and his associates.

But Clapper said he did not have knowledge of the FBI investigation until Comey declared it publically in March.

Yates said the FBI interviewed Flynn on Jan. 24—two days before she first alerted the White House. She said Flynn could face criminal prosecution and a possible sentence of five years in prison if he, in fact, lied to the FBI.

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism is one of three congressional bodies looking into possible Russian foul play, joining the intelligence committees in both the House and the Senate.