WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10:  Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, speaks during the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC.  The committee was holding a hearing about cyber threats to the United States and fielded questions about effects of Russian government hacking on the 2016 presidential election.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Sen. Warner: Flynn incident a real concern
00:38 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

Warner put the blame on the Trump administration

House oversight says Flynn may have committed a crime

Washington CNN  — 

The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee knocked former national security adviser Mike Flynn and the Trump administration over his failure to disclose foreign payments he had received.

“There seems to be no evidence that the Trump administration did appropriate due diligence before they brought him into this very senior position,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

Warner’s comments in the Thursday interview came after top House Oversight Committee Democrat Elijah Cummings revealed both that the Defense Intelligence Agency warned Flynn not to accept foreign payments in 2014 and that the Department of Defense’s inspector general had opened an investigation into Flynn.

Flynn was ousted from his role as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser after reports surfaced of him misleading Vice President Mike Pence about communications between himself and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Additionally, the House oversight committee said on Tuesday that Flynn may have broken the law by not properly disclosing payments from Russia and Turkey.

Saying Flynn had exhibited a “pattern of behavior,” Warner said this was cause for real concern and tied the entire matter to issues with the Trump administration.

“That goes to a lot of the questions around some of these individuals that have been affiliated with Mr. Trump’s campaign and then some with the administration,” Warner said. “There seems to be a bit of reckless behavior.”

Warner also said Flynn was “very high on the list” of people the Senate intelligence committee would like to bring forward as part of its investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended the Trump administration on Thursday, saying that Flynn had been cleared under the Obama administration. Flynn was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under then-President Barack Obama until he was ousted from that role in 2014.

Warner dismissed Spicer’s comments and said the responsibility was still on Trump’s team.

“I do know any administration, if you’re hiring someone new, even if they had prior clearance, you do a new review,” Warner said.