The White House on Tuesday stood by its decision not to tell former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates about its first controversial order barring US entry to immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, describing her as a “political opponent of the president”.
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“I want to know more about Trump’s business dealings”, Graham told CNN Tuesday. But he has plenty of proxies willing to jump in for him, including on Monday, when three former Obama administration officials said Obama had personally warned Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser.
Yates’ concern was that Russian Federation created a “compromise situation” where the national security adviser could be blackmailed.
Yates was initially appointed an assistant US attorney in 1989 by then-President George W. Bush.
Trump has said he has no nefarious ties to Russian Federation and isn’t aware of any involvement by his aides in Moscow’s interference in the election.
During her testimony, Yates spoke extensively about Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor.
It may also not be easy for the administration to discredit Yates.
Alone, her appearance didn’t prove much. The White House Counsel informed the President immediately.
During the Monday hearing, Cruz needled Yates over that decision regarding the travel ban, which in part temporarily blocked entry to the US of people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
He added: “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?”
This double corroboration that Trump knew about Flynn is a huge part of holding Trump directly responsible for his decision to hire and keep Flynn, and it’s also damning in terms of the entire Russian collusion narrative (not yet proven, only being investigated) swirling around Trump’s entire campaign and top level advisers.
“If they didn’t take any action, that would certainly be concerning”, Yates said. He is also facing questions about business connections to Russian Federation and Turkey. He says he has no ties to Russian Federation, but the investigations are expected to last into next year. “Clapper repeated his assertion today”.
Prior to the Senate committee’s hearing, questions were raised by Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, as to Barack Obama’s handling of Flynn.
Spicer also addressed questions about Sen. He built a close relationship previous year with then-candidate Trump and became a frequent Trump campaign surrogate before assuming a brief tenure as national security advisor.
Yates testified that she issued a warning because Flynn had apparently lied to his bosses about his contacts with Moscow’s ambassador in Washington.
Early on in the race for the Democratic nomination, Carter said he believed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton would get the nomination “because money dominates, and she has an inside track to the massive amounts that are going to pour into the Democratic Party side”.
The edited banner is no longer on Trump’s page, but it’s clear what the president was referring to. Mr. Flynn resigned as NSA on February 13. Yates said on Monday that, because Flynn had mischaracterized his communications with the Russians, her office concluded that he was susceptible to blackmail by the Russian government.
At Monday’s hearing, Sen.
Yates for example testified that she had seen a readout of an interview Flynn gave to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during January, before she headed to meet McGahn.
But Sen. Richard Blumenthal of CT deliberately raised the question of Flynn’s possible guilt in an exchange with Yates.
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“It is, yes”, Yates replied.
