Sally Yates speaks during an event for National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month at the Justice Department in Washington, DC. (Getty)
Former acting U.S. attorney general Sally Yates said on Monday that she told the White House that Michael Flynn was compromised by Russia over two weeks before he was fired.
Yates testified on Monday that she informed the Trump administration on January 26th that the Department of Justice believed Michael Flynn had been compromised by Russia.
“We felt like it was critical to get information to the White House because we believed Flynn was compromised,” Yates said.
Michael Flynn resigned on February 13th, 2017, meaning 18 full days passed in which the White House knew that its national security advisor had potentially been compromised by Russia.
“You don’t want the national security adviser to be in a position where the Russians have leverage over him,” Yates said on Monday.
Michael Flynn was not asked to leave the Trump administration until after The Washington Post reported in February that Sally Yates had warned the Trump administration that Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail.
Sally Yates said today that when she told the White House that Michael Flynn had not been honest in saying that he did not discuss sanctions with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 election, White House Counsel Don McGahn asked why the Department of Justice cared about one Trump administration official lying to another.