Sally Yates : warned White House that Flynn was a blackmail risk
(CNN)Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said Monday that she alerted the White House earlier this year that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn could be "essentially blackmailed by the Russians."
"We believed that Gen. Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians," Yates told a Senate judiciary subcommittee, in a high-profile hearing on Russian meddling into the US election.
Yates told the panel that she had a meeting with White House Counsel Donald McGahn on January 26 to tell him that she had information that statements by Vice President Mike Pence, based on his conversations with Flynn, were false. She was joined in the meeting by a senior career official in the Justice Department.
"We weren't the only ones that knew all of this, that the Russians also knew about what General Flynn had done and the Russians also knew that General Flynn had misled the vice president and others," Yates said, relating the contents of her conversation with McGahn.
Yates was speaking at a hearing led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, who opened the hearing with an implicit rebuke of the President and his alternative explanations for the interference in the election.
The South Carolina Republican said the hacking was not the work of "some 400-pound guy sitting on a bed or any other country," a reference to a comment Trump has previously made on the matter.
In her opening statement, Yates said that she planned to be as "fulsome and comprehensive as possible" within ethical and legal boundaries.
Yates also warned in her opening testimony that there were some issues she could not address publicly because they involved classified information. Similarly, she said that as a former official she was not authorized to discuss Department of Justice or other executive branch deliberations. It was not immediately clear how those constraints would affect her testimony on the Flynn question. Neither Flynn nor Trump were directly referenced in her opening statement.
"The efforts by a foreign adversary to interfere and undermine our democratic processes — and those of our allies — pose a serious threat to all Americans," Yates said.
Graham asked Yates whether she had any information about whether there was collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia.
"My answer to that question would require me to reveal classified information," Yates said.
At one point in the hearing Graham asked both Clapper and Yates how information about Flynn's conversations with the Russian ambassador, that eventually led to his sacking, made it into the newspapers. Trump asked a similar question earlier on Twitter. Both former official said they did not know how that happened.
Lawmakers have been wrangling behind the scenes at the Capitol to bring in Yates ever since it was reported that she warned Trump's White House counsel, Don McGahn, that Flynn had talked about US sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. Officials later confirmed to CNN that Trump transition officials warned Flynn against calling Kislyak, saying that Kislyak was likely being monitored by US intelligence.
Sally Yates says she warned White House that Flynn was a blackmail risk https://t.co/UiuVBGiAZ5
Comment
-
Comment by Boris on May 8, 2017 at 4:41pm
-
Sean Spicer Mocks Democrats: Maybe Sally Yates Will Tell Us How Russia Kept Hillary from Wisconsin?
-
-
#BREAKING #SallyYates: “We believed that Gen. Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians” WATCH LIVE >> https://t.co/URvsqrgT8W
"Destroying the New World Order"
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!
Latest Activity
- Top News
- Everything
"Ning is working on theproblem. Their reply:
"Hello, Thank you for notifying us.We are…"
The Day of the Dolphin (1973) Original Trailer [FHD]
Directed by Mike Nichols. With George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere and Paul Sorvino.The Day of the Dolphin Blu-ray : https://amzn.to/3W9bfbxThe Day of the Dolp...
"I issued a ticked concerning your report. "The rgeular format is not appearing on the…"
Report an Issue
"The rgeular format is not appearing on the page and I can't add contwent unless its limited…"
"cheeki kea, you are so right. We live in a world where even art has been lost to the savagery of…"
"I seriously doubt Trump has a God complex as he is merely treying to save this country, but people…"
Project Twinkle and an Incident at Holloman Air Force Base
I didn’t think it would happen as soon as it did, but it did! I got the call and a black…See More
A teacher exposes the LGBT agenda coming into in elementary schools
At the Teens4Truth Conference at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Nov.18, 2017. A teacher warns that parents have no idea how bad it is, and ev...
main-qimg-c0f46f334984bf2d4642651a38db08ca
"This is sick. What about learning something useful like, reading, mathematics, literature, science…"
How much money makes anyone have a god complex?
Trump makes a meme of himself as Jesus Christ. Soros says he fancied himself a sort of god.In 2004,…See More
© 2026 Created by truth.
Powered by
You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!
Join 12160 Social Network