Yahoo News New probe into Trump security adviser after Pentagon documents show Michael Flynn 'was warned against taking foreign money'
A Pentagon inspector general is launching its own investigation into whether president Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn took payments from foreign entities without approval, according to a letter released by House Democrats on Thursday.
The inspector general of the Department of Defence is probing whether Mr Flynn had "failed to obtain required approval prior to receiving any emolument from a foreign government," according to the April 11 letter to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Documents released by lawmakers on Thursday show Mr Flynn was warned when he retired from the military in 2014 not to take foreign money without "advance approval" by Pentagon authorities.
Mr Flynn earned tens of thousands of dollars from Russia's state-sponsored RT television network and from a Turkish businessman linked to Turkey's government.
Senior lawmakers said this week that Mr Flynn may have broken the law by failing to request and receive permission to accept $45,000 (£35,000) to speak at a 2015 RT gala dinner at which he sat with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
If substantiated, such a failure would violate regulations rooted in the Constitution that bar current and retired military officers from accepting "emoluments" from foreign powers, the letter said.
Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, told reporters on Thursday that the inspector general's probe was "appropriate."
"If they think there's wrongdoing, then the department's inspector general should look into that," he said.
Profile | General Michael Flynn
Mr Spicer said Mr Flynn did not undergo a security review before he was named Trump's first national security adviser.
"Why would you rerun a background check on someone who was the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency that had and did maintain a high-level security clearance?" he said.
However, a former senior White House official familiar with ethics and security clearance issues said that during the administration of former president Barack Obama, the White House Counsel's office always conducted its own background investigations of candidates for senior White House jobs, even if they already held security clearances.
These reviews included questionnaires and interviews, and would have included issues such as whether the candidate had drug problems, had hired prostitutes, or had personal or financial problems, the former official said.
