Former US national security adviser received money from Russia

White House documents released on April 1 show that former US national security adviser Michael Flynn concealed the fact that he received money from Russian companies.

Former US national security adviser Michael Flynn - Photo: Reuters

On March 31, in a signed financial disclosure, Mr. Flynn admitted to receiving money from Russians, including speeches for the Russian government-sponsored television station RT-TV and Volga-Dnepr Airlines.

Mr. Flynn continued to keep the matter vague by not revealing exactly how much money he received from Russia, but the remuneration for these speeches was classified as "compensation in excess of $5,000 per year."

Continuously concealed

Previously, there were rumors that Mr. Flynn received money from Russian companies since 2015, including more than $22,000 from security firm Kaspersky and Russian airline Volga-Dnepr Airlines.

Neither of these payments were mentioned in the financial disclosure statement signed by Mr. Flynn himself and released on March 31. However, it is noteworthy that none of these payments appeared in Mr. Flynn’s financial disclosure statement last February, the time before he resigned, according to Reuters.

This also means that once again the former US national security adviser - who was once trusted by Donald Trump - once again lied about his relationship with Russia.

Former Army Lieutenant General Flynn resigned on February 13 for lying about his dealings with Russians before Donald Trump took office as US President.

Recently, Mr. Flynn became the center of attention again when he set a condition of "exoneration" to testify before the US Senate Intelligence Committee.

This immediately "fueled the fire" for Democratic lawmakers to attack Mr. Flynn and the Donald Trump administration's team, while investigations into Russia's alleged interference in the US election and the connection between Mr. Trump's campaign team and the Russians have yet to be concluded.

House Intelligence Committee Democrat Adam Schiff questioned why Flynn would seek pardon if he was found not guilty. Other Democrats even used the tactic of "hitting himself with his own petard" by recalling Flynn's own words late last year that "if you ask for pardon, you must have committed a crime."

The White House is out of control

The White House and the Trump administration are facing one crisis after another. According to CNN, the Trump administration prefers to solve a crisis by focusing on another, bigger crisis, but contrary to expectations, the White House seems to have lost control and the crises keep piling up and escalating.

From Mr. Trump's suggestion that Mr. Flynn should be cleared of charges when he testifies, to avoiding the Democrats' "nitpicking" game, to his declaration of war on the Republican conservative group and stirring up internal strife.

The White House's temporary strategy at this time is to blame the previous administration. White House press secretary Sean Spicer on March 31 accused the Barack Obama administration of "playing tricks", saying that before leaving office, it had spread rumors throughout the government about Russian interference in the US election, intentionally leaving behind what could be considered "evidence" for future investigators.

Mr Spicer also cited Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official under Mr Obama, who urged colleagues to provide such information to Congress before Mr Trump took office.

The above call was said by Mr. Spicer to be a trick of the previous administration, turning information leaks into a tool for political games.

Meanwhile, speaking to CNN, Ms. Farkas affirmed that her call stems from the fact that the Trump administration may suppress this information when he takes office. Therefore, she urgently calls for providing them to congressional committees.

According to tuoitre.vn