President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with its ambassador to the U.S. before the president took office last month even though officials claimed he didn’t, The Washington Post reported late Thursday night.
Current and former U.S. officials told the Post about the conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. When asked in an interview with the Post Wednesday if he had discussed sanctions with the ambassador, Flynn repeatedly said, “No,”
On Thursday, however, Flynn appeared to retreat from that denial. His spokesman told the Post, that Flynn “indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up.”
Vice President Mike Pence told CBS’s “Face the Nation” last month that there was no contact between the Trump team and Russian officials during the campaign and Flynn’s call with Kislyak on the same day sanctions were announced in December was “strictly coincidental.”
