The White House was warned in January that President Donald Trump's national security advisor Michael Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail, a top former official told lawmakers Monday, as the issue of Moscow's meddling in the United States election returned to the spotlight.
Graham asked Yates whether she had any information about whether there was collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russian Federation.
President Donald Trump attempted to discredit two former Obama administration officials who testified in a congressional hearing Monday about his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. All the committees are led by Republicans.
White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, had insisted that Flynn had not discussed USA -imposed sanctions with Kislyak during the presidential transition period.
It had the makings of a Cold War whodunit: The attorney general tells the White House that the Russians have "kompromat" on the president's national security adviser - but the president, for reasons unclear, stands by the compromised official.
"We weren't the only ones that knew all of this", Yates said, referring to revelations that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about the true content of a December call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn was paid more than $30,000 for a Moscow trip in 2015, where he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Kremlin-sponsored Russia Today television network.
Still, nuance isn't exactly Trump's thing, which would explain the banner.
Yates' much-awaited testimony brought fresh attention to this administration's Russian Federation problem, which the White House has struggled to resolve by trying, among other things, to blame it on Obama, by citing the security clearance the general had had continued to enjoy despite being dismissed as head of U.S. military's intelligence agency, in 2014.
Mr Trump made no mention of the fact that Mr Flynn had been fired from his position by the Obama administration in 2014.
She said she did not, and that she had revealed no classified information herself.
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Earlier in the day Trump shot off a series of pre-emptive Twitter strikes, accusing Obama of enabling Flynn, and assailing Yates for allegedly leaking classified information. She said she was not.
McGahn, Yates continued, called her up the next morning and asked if they could meet again. Democrats are now focusing on the 18 days between Yates's specific warning to the White House and Flynn's firing.
Clapper qualified his earlier statement that he knew of no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian Federation - a point House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes has used to exculpate Trump. Well before he reportedly discussed the sanctions placed on Russian Federation in response to their interference in the 2016 election and misled the Vice President and others, Flynn's behavior was already disqualifying.
The warning, which has not been previously reported, came less than 48 hours after the November election when the two sat down for a 90-minute conversation in the Oval Office.
The Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee scheduled the hearing for testimony on Russian involvement in the USA presidential election.
After Monday's hearing, Trump took to Twitter to bash the media and deny any collusion.
"General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama Administration", he said. The AP interviewed a host of former US officials, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The nature of Obama's misgivings about Flynn was not clear. Obama that month told one of his closest advisers that the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On the same day, Barack Obama's administration announced through a statement that they are going to take retaliatory measures in response to the interference in the 2016 presidential campaign by the Kremlin.
The tweet, superimposed over GOP figureheads flashing the thumbs-up sign, reads, "Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows - there is "no evidence" of collusion w/Russia and Trump". He did not elaborate.
Clapper said he couldn't speak to Flynn's security clearance specifically. "The specifics are quite sensitive", Clapper said.
Information for this article was contributed by Matt Apuzzo and Emmarie Huetteman of The New York Times; by Eric Tucker, Eileen Sullivan and Julie Pace of The Associated Press; and by Philip Rucker and Greg Miller of The Washington Post.
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