US: Former official lies in investigation into alleged Russian election interference

According to an indictment released on December 1, the Office of Special Counsel has accused former US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his relationship with Russia.

Former US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn

He is the highest-ranking US official to be charged in the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

The indictment states that on January 24, Mr. Flynn "intentionally" misrepresented the truth when he told the FBI that he did not discuss with the then Russian Ambassador to the US, Mr. Sergey Kislyak, about sanctions against Moscow imposed by the previous administration of Barack Obama.

According to the US Department of Justice, Mr. Flynn's hearing is scheduled to take place at 10:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. Vietnam time) the same day under the chairmanship of Judge Rudolph Contreras at the federal courthouse in Washington.

Mr. Flynn is currently a central figure in the investigation by Congress, the FBI and the US Department of Defense into allegations related to so-called "Russian interference in the US election."

Mr. Flynn had to resign as US National Security Advisor last February after admitting that he had contact with the Russian Ambassador to the US while serving as an election adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump and did not fully inform him about this meeting.

So far, Russian officials have denied US accusations of interference in last year's US presidential election, calling them "baseless" and "absurd."

For his part, President Trump also denied all allegations that his campaign team colluded with Russia and called this investigation a "witch hunt"./.

According to Vietnam+