Yates, Flynn And The Trump-Russia Investigation

Published May 9, 2017 at 9:00 AM CDT

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper are sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Sally Yates testifies on General Michael Flynn. We’ll look at the latest on the Russia connection.

Yesterday, former acting attorney general of the United States, Sally Yates, finally got to tell her whole story. Of how she went to the White House early this year to convey that President Trump’s top national security adviser was lying about his Russian contacts, that the Russians knew it, that the adviser, General Michael Flynn, was open to blackmail. Then she waited. And was eventually fired herself. This hour On Point, the White House, Russia, and the Senate testimony of Sally Yates. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Jonathan Landay, national security correspondent for Reuters. ( @JonathanLanday)

Byron Tau, reporter in The Wall Street Journal’s Washington, D.C. bureau, where he covers Congress and politics. ( @ByronTau)

Kristen Welker, White House correspondent for NBC News. ( @kwelkernbc)

Eli Lake, columnist for Bloomberg View. ( @EliLake)

From Tom’s Reading List

Reuters: Obama warned Trump against Flynn as national security adviser: ex-official — “Obama warned Trump against Flynn as national security adviser: ex-official

Former U.S. President Barack Obama warned then-President-elect Donald Trump not to give the post of national security adviser in his administration to Michael Flynn who was eventually fired in a controversy about ties to Russia, a former Obama aide said.”

Washington Post: Yates says she warned White House Flynn could be ‘blackmailed’ — “Former acting attorney general Sally Yates said Monday she warned the top lawyer in the White House that then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn could be blackmailed by Russia, and gave the White House a private warning ‘so that they could take action.'”

Bloomberg News: Washington Loves General McMaster, But Trump Doesn’t — “For the Washington establishment, President Donald Trump’s decision to make General H.R. McMaster his national security adviser in February was a masterstroke. Here is a well-respected defense intellectual, praised by both parties, lending a steady hand to a chaotic White House. The grown-ups are back. But inside the White House, the McMaster pick has not gone over well with the one man who matters most. White House officials tell me Trump himself has clashed with McMaster in front of his staff.”