President Trump told senators on Monday to ask former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates how information leaked to the press about contacts between Trump’s team and Russian officials, following her meeting with White House lawyers on retired Gen. Mike Flynn.
Yates, set to testify in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee panel Monday, is expected to detail her warning to the White House counsel about Trump’s former national security adviser’s contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the transition. Trump fired her after Yates refused to defend his first immigration ban on seven Muslim countries in court.
“Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Council [sic],” Trump tweeted.
Publicly, Trump has not been overly concerned about Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak, and instead has blamed the scandal on leakers who went to the media with reports about Flynn’s conversations.
Flynn reportedly told the administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, that the conversations with Kisylak were mostly small talk and holiday greetings. However, subsequent information showed that wasn’t true, and Flynn was fired for not being honest with the vice president, according to the White House.
Yates is going to tell the panel she gave White House counsel a stern warning about Flynn’s contacts with the Russians and strongly implied he should be fired, but never outright recommended his dismissal.
