Donald Trump Was Warned About Adviser Michael Flynn's Vulnerability: US Official

Washington:

The Justice Department warned the White House weeks ago that national security adviser Michael Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail for contacts with Russian officials before President Donald Trump took power, a US official said on Monday.

Mr Trump is evaluating the situation surrounding Mr Flynn and talking to Vice President Mike Pence about it, Mr Trump's spokesman said, in a pointed refusal to make a public show of support for his embattled aide.

The US official confirmed a Washington Post report that Sally Yates, the then-acting US attorney general, told the White House late last month that she believed Mr Flynn had misled them about the nature of his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

She said Mr Flynn might have put himself into a compromising position, possibly leaving himself vulnerable to blackmail, the official said. Ms Yates was later fired for opposing Mr Trump's temporary entry ban for people from seven mostly Muslim nations.

Mr Flynn had told Mr Pence he had not discussed US sanctions against Russia with Russian officials in the weeks before Mr Trump took office on January 20, prompting Mr Pence to defend him in subsequent television interviews.

In recent days, Mr Flynn has acknowledged he might have discussed sanctions with the Russians but could not remember with 100 per cent certainty, which officials said had upset Mr Pence, who felt he had been misled.

Officials said Mr Flynn apologized to Mr Pence twice, including in person on Friday.

"The president is evaluating the situation. He is speaking to ... Vice President Pence relative to the conversation the vice president had with General Flynn and also speaking to various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is, our national security," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.