Reports: Trump Adviser Discussed Sanctions With Russian Envoy Before Trump Took Office
U.S. media reports say White House national security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Moscow's ambassador to the United States during the month before President Donald Trump took office.
The reports on February 9 in The Washington Post and The New York Times cite unnamed current and former U.S. officials.
The Washington Post said some senior U.S. officials interpreted the contacts as a "potentially illegal" signal to Russia that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in December.
Trump advisers have said that Flynn spoke to Sergei Kislyak a few days after Christmas merely to arrange a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after the inauguration.
But The New York Times cites current and former American officials as saying that the 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 postinauguration phone call.
The officials said that Flynn had never made explicit promises of sanctions relief but that he had appeared to leave the impression it would be possible.
The New York Times says the accounts of the conversations raise the prospect that Flynn violated a law against private citizens engaging in diplomacy, and directly contradict statements made by Trump advisers.
There was no immediate reaction to the reports from the Trump administration.