Former Attorney General Sally Yates says she warned the White House that Donald Trump\u2019s then-National Security Adviser could have been blackmailed by the Kremlin.<\/b>
\nUnder questioning by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Attorney General Sally Yates on Monday said she warned the White House that President Donald Trump\u2019s then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was vulnerable to Kremlin blackmail after misleading the administration about his Russia connections.
\u201cThis was a problem because not only do we believe that the Russians knew this but that they likely had proof of this information, \u201d Yates said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing chaired by Graham. \u201cAnd that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians.\u201d
Yates and James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, testified about Russian involvement in the U. S. presidential election as multiple probes seek to determine how Moscow interfered and what ties exist between Russian operatives and Trump\u2019s aides.
Graham, a foreign policy hawk who has been one of the most vocal Republican critics of Trump, opened the widely watched hearing with a veiled shot at the president, who has repeatedly dismissed these concerns about Kremlin involvement in 2016.
\u201cFrom my point of view, there’s no doubt in my mind it was the Russians involved in all the things I just described, \u201d Graham said, referring to the U. S. intelligence community\u2019s previous assesments of Russian interference in the U. S. election. \u201cNot just some \u2018400 pound guy\u2019 sitting on a bed or any other country. Russia is up to no good when it comes to democracies all over the world.\u201d
Graham asked Yates what she relayed to the White house. Yates said she had two in-person meetings and one phone call with the White House regarding Flynn. She said she met with Don McGahn, White House counsel for Trump, and discussed the situation. She did not comment in the hearing on Flynn\u2019s specific actions or motivations.
\u201cFirst thing we did was to explain to Mr. McGahn that the underlying conduct that General Flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself, \u201d Yates said. \u201cSecondly, we told him we felt like the vice president and others were entitled to know that the information that they were conveying to the American people wasn’t true, and we wanted to make it really clear right out of the gate that we were not accusing Vice President Pence of knowingly providing false information to the American people.\u201d
Yates said that she gave the White House this information so they could make an informed decision on whether to fire Flynn.
Graham also asked Yates and Clapper about surveillance and the unmasking process, which involves revealing a U. S. citizen\u2019s identity in intelligence reports. Both often declined to answer many of Graham\u2019s questions regarding Russian collusion.
\u201cGeneral Clapper, during your investigation of all things Russia, did you ever find a situation where a Trump business interest in Russia gave you concern?\u201d Graham asked.
\u201cNot in the course of the preparation of the intelligence community assessment, \u201d Clapper replied.
\u201cAt all, anytime?\u201d Graham said.
\u201cSenator Graham, I can\u2019 t comment on that because that impacts an investigation, \u201d Clapper said.
Graham pressed Yates and Clapper on how the confidential information about Flynn was leaked to the Washington Post, and both said they did not know nor were they the ones to leak the information.<\/p>\n

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