As Donald Trump’s transition team officially announced that retired Gen. Michael Flynn had been named Trump’s national security adviser, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, on Friday asked for documents about Flynn’s “apparent conflicts of interest.”
Cummings sent a letter to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the head of Trump’s transition team, requesting information on Flynn’s work with his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc., citing reports that Flynn received classified briefings during the campaign while lobbying the United States government on behalf of foreign governments.
“President-elect Trump promised during his campaign that he would ‘drain the swamp,’ but his top national security advisor is Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, whose firm is reportedly being paid to lobby the U.S. Government by a close ally of Turkey’s president. It is unclear how Lt. Gen. Flynn was reportedly allowed into intelligence briefings during the campaign despite these apparent conflicts of interest,” Cummings said in a statement accompanying the letter.
Cummings previously requested documents about potential for Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as a White House adviser given that such a move would violate anti-nepotism law. The congressman has also called for hearings looking into whether Russia meddled in the U.S. elections.
Read Cummings’ letter to Pence: