Now Flynn iffy on sanction-talk timing

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's national security adviser addressed U.S. sanctions against Russia in his conversations with the country's ambassador while President Barack Obama was still in office, a new report said, contradicting previous claims that the matter was not discussed.

A Trump administration official told The Associated Press that Michael Flynn "can't be certain" that sanctions did not come up in his discussions with the Russian ambassador. The official said Flynn has "no recollection" of discussing the sanctions, but left open the possibility that the subject did come up when he spoke with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition.

The Kremlin denied Friday that Flynn and Kislyak discussed the sanctions before Trump took office.

But The Washington Post, citing several current and former U.S. officials, reported late Thursday that Flynn made explicit references to election-related sanctions imposed by Obama's administration in conversations with Kislyak.

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On Thursday, Flynn told the Post through a spokesman that "while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn't be certain that the topic never came up."

The accounts of the conversations directly contradict statements made by Trump advisers and, according to one current and one former American official familiar with the case, raise the prospect that Flynn violated the Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments in disputes involving the U.S. government.

Members of the Trump administration have maintained that Flynn had spoken to the ambassador during the transition period to wish him a Merry Christmas and offer condolences after a deadly Russian plane crash.

One of the calls took place on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration hit Moscow with sanctions in response to a U.S. intelligence assessment that the Russian government had interfered in the presidential election with the goal of helping Trump.

But current and former U.S. officials said that conversation -- which took place the day before the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia over accusations that it used cyberattacks to help sway the election in Trump's favor -- ranged far beyond the logistics of a post-inauguration phone call. And it was only one in a series of contacts between the two men that began before the election, and also included talk of cooperating in the fight against the Islamic State group, along with other matters.

The officials said Flynn had never made explicit promises of sanctions relief but that he had appeared to leave the impression it would be possible.

During the Christmas week conversation, he urged Kislyak to keep the Russian government from retaliating over the coming sanctions -- it was an open secret in Washington that they were in the works -- by telling him that whatever the Obama administration did could be undone, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified material.

pence's early denials

The Post report also raises questions about assertions made by Vice President Mike Pence staunchly denying that Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador had anything to do with sanctions.

"It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation" as new sanctions were announced, Pence said in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation last month. He insisted the discussion did not address the Obama administration's decision to impose sanctions on Russian intelligence services and expel 35 Russian diplomats it said were actually intelligence operatives.

Pressed by the show's host, John Dickerson, Pence added that "those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions," and that "I don't believe there were more conversations."

Pence also maintained the Trump presidential campaign had no contacts with the Russians ahead of the election.

An administration official said Pence was relying on information from Flynn when he denied sanctions were raised during the calls with Kislyak.

Both officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity.

It's not unusual for incoming administrations to have discussions with foreign governments before taking office. But repeated contacts just as Obama was imposing sanctions raise questions about whether Trump's team discussed -- or even helped shape -- Russia's response.

Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly did not retaliate against the U.S. for the expulsions, a decision Trump quickly praised.

After U.S. officials first revealed Flynn's calls last month, Trump aides originally denied that a telephone conversation even took place on Dec. 29. Hours later, an official acknowledged one such call.

Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador suggests the Trump administration has been laying the groundwork for its promised closer relationship with Moscow. That effort appears to be moving ahead, even as many in Washington, including Republicans, have expressed ire over the assessment that Putin ordered a hacking operation aimed at meddling in the U.S. election.

The sanctions targeted the GRU and FSB, leading Russian intelligence agencies that the U.S. said were involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other groups.

Democrats' outcry

Democrats called for an investigation of Flynn, some even going so far as to demand his firing.

"He lied -- repeatedly and egregiously -- about his actions," Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Ted Lieu of California said Friday.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that Flynn should resign if the Post's report is true.

"I don't know how people can have confidence in his judgment and truthfulness," Schiff said in an interview. "I don't know how other members of the administration could -- if they were unwitting of the nature of his conversation."

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the second-ranking House Democratic leader, said in an emailed statement that the report raises "serious alarm bells."

"We need a full investigation to determine what the Trump administration promised Russia and if U.S. laws were broken," Hoyer said.

Questions about Trump's friendly posture toward Russia deepened after he dismissed the U.S. intelligence agencies' assertions about Russia's role in the hacking. In briefing Trump on their findings, intelligence officials also presented him with unsubstantiated claims that Russia had amassed compromising personal and financial allegations against him.

Last week, House Democrats called for an investigation of Flynn to determine whether he violated the Constitution by accepting payments from a Kremlin-controlled TV station in Russia. Flynn traveled in 2015 to Moscow, where he joined Putin and other Russian officials in a celebration of the RT network.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, later explained he had been paid for taking part in the event, but brushed aside concerns that he was aiding a Russian propaganda effort.

The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits federal officeholders from accepting gifts from foreign governments.

Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace and Vivian Salama of The Associated Press; by Matthew Rosenberg, Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times; and by Justin Sink of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 02/11/2017