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FlynnIntel Group received $530,000 in payments from a Turkish-owned company
The work came at the height of the US presidential campaign
(CNN) —
The White House acknowledged Friday that President Donald Trump’s transition team was aware that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn engaged in work that would likely require him to register his consulting firm as a foreign agent before Flynn was tapped to serve as national security adviser.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that Flynn’s attorney contacted a Trump transition attorney to notify the transition of the potential filing, but said Trump was not made aware. Separately, Vice President Mike Pence, who headed up the transition, was notified in a November letter from the top Democrat on the House oversight committee that Flynn’s firm had lobbied on behalf of a foreign power.
Spicer rejected questions about whether the disclosures should have raised red flags about Flynn, saying “it’s not a question of raising a red flag.”
But Flynn’s Justice Department filing, which revealed that Flynn’s firm worked on behalf of a Turkish-owned company to improve US confidence in Turkey’s business climate, raised further questions about Flynn, who was forced to resign from his role as national security adviser last month.
Flynn’s resignation came after a report alleged that he had discussed US-imposed sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador to the US during the transition and failed to disclose that part of his conversation to Pence. Flynn maintains he doesn’t remember discussing the sanctions and Russian officials deny that the topic came up.
Flynn’s consulting firm, FlynnIntel Group, received $530,000 in payments from a Turkish-owned company based in the Netherlands and this week registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department, acknowledging that the work may have benefited the Turkish government, according to foreign agent registration paperwork filed with the Justice Department.
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The work came at the height of the US presidential campaign and while Flynn served as Trump’s top foreign policy adviser on the campaign. The contract did not end until November 15 , a week after Trump was elected president.
Pence on Thursday called the news of Flynn’s foreign agent filing “an affirmation of the President’s decision to ask General Flynn to resign” in an interview with Fox News.
A source familiar with the filing told CNN earlier Friday that the Trump transition was notified Flynn would likely file the foreign agent paperwork and that the White House Counsel’s Office was later notified after the inauguration.
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