Whitehouse was warned about Flynn’s blackmail risk

The White House was warned in January that Donald Trump's national security advisor Michael Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail, a top former official told lawmakers on Monday.

Former acting US Attorney General Sally Yates testified at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing that focused primarily on Flynn, saying that she warned the White House in January that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had been compromised and could have been vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. She did not shed much light on other aspects of investigations of allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election and whether there was collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow.

Yates briefly led the US Justice Department until Trump fired her on 30 January for declining to defend his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. She told White House counsel Don McGahn on 26 January, less than a week into Trump's presidency, that Flynn had not been telling the truth about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to Washington.

Flynn, a retired general once seen as a potential Trump vice president, has emerged as a central figure in the Russian probes.

Russia has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.

Yates told the hearing she had been concerned that "the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians."

"Logic would tell you that you don't want the national security adviser to be in a position where the Russians have leverage over him," she said.

Trump initially hit back by dismissing suggestions that his team colluded with Russia as a "hoax," and calling the congressional investigations into Russia's interference in the US election a taxpayer-funded "charade."

He continued to praise Flynn, and waited 18 days after Yates' warning before asking for Flynn's resignation after it emerged he had had extensive contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, and had not given a full account of them to other White House officials.

Hours earlier, White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed that former US President Barack Obama had also issued a warning against hiring Flynn when he met with Trump in the White House two days after the latter’s election victory.

“It’s true that President Obama made it known that he wasn’t exactly a fan of Gen Flynn’s,” Spicer said, but added that such remarks were unsurprising as Flynn had been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration’s policies. He said Flynn’s security clearance had been renewed in April 2016, and the Obama White House had not stepped in to revoke it.