Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, was paid over $65,000 by companies linked to Russia in 2015, according to a letter released on Thursday by congressional investigators.
Among the companies was a cargo airline implicated in a bribery scheme involving Russian officials at the United Nations, an American branch of a cybersecurity firm believed to have ties to Russia’s intelligence services, and RT, the Russian government’s English language TV channel, according to the letter, which was sent to Mr. Trump on Thursday by Representative Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat. Mr. Cummings is the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The document provides new details about Mr. Flynn’s ties to Russian entities just over a month after being forced to resign following revelations that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations last year with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
The letter, addressed to Mr. Trump; James B. Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, requested additional documents related to Mr. Flynn’s security clearances.
The fees were apparently for speaking engagements by Mr. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The engagements occurred before he became an official adviser to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.
The letter and supporting documents provide new details about a trip Mr. Flynn took to Moscow in December 2015 on behalf of RT. As part of that trip, RT paid him more than $45,000 to deliver a speech at an opulent gala hosted by the network, where he sat next to the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin.
That summer, according to an invoice included with the letters, Mr. Flynn also received $11,250 from a Russian cargo airline named Volga-Dnepr Airlines.
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SOURCE: NY Times, Adam Goldman and Michael Schwirtz
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