Mike Flynn continued to receive intelligence briefings even after government officials determined he had become vulnerable to Russian blackmail, according to a report Tuesday.
Career intelligence officials agreed in January that Flynn, then President Trump’s incoming national security adviser, had become a potential target of blackmail because of conversations he had with Russian officials, The New York Times reported.
Yet nearly every day for three weeks, Mike Pompeo, Trump’s CIA director, briefed Trump on the nation’s most sensitive intelligence, with Flynn participating in these meetings.
According to the Times, Pompeo has not said whether intelligence officials notified him of their concerns about Flynn. But one administration official told the Times that Pompeo did not share any concerns about Flynn with the president.
Trump fired Flynn in February after media reports revealed the former national security adviser had misled Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he had with a Russian envoy during the transition period.
Flynn is a prominent subject of investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
