President Trump’s former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, was paid by the Russians before assuming his post, according to a new report.
Flynn received tens of thousands of dollars from Russian companies in 2015, just before he became a top surrogate to Trump and well before his brief stint in the US government, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing documents obtained by Congress.
The payments include $33,750 from the Russian government-backed RT TV station for an appearance at a Moscow conference and two checks of $11,250 each from Russian cargo and cybersecurity companies for speeches.
“General Flynn, like other government folks, signed on to a speakers’ bureau, and what you’re seeing is the results of that, and giving speeches, and he was paid to do it,” said Price Floyd, a spokesman for the former Trump adviser, in a statement to the Journal.
Flynn emerged in 2016 as a key Trump adviser, speaking at campaign rallies and events throughout the election.
He joined the White House as Trump’s first national security adviser but left the government after misleading members of the Trump administration — including Vice President Mike Pence — about contact he had with Russian officials during the presidential transition period.