WASHINGTON \u2014 An investment firm that once hired Michael Flynn has denied he sent text messages during President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration indicating U.S. sanctions would be \u201cripped up\u201d so a nuclear reactor project in the Middle East involving Russian interests could proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The firm, however, cited only one set of cell phone records to show that there were no text messages between Flynn and the firm\u2019s managing director on Inauguration Day. That leaves open the possibility that Flynn relied on other devices or private messaging applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before becoming White House national security adviser, Flynn was advising ACU Strategies on a project to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East that had been stymied by sanctions targeting Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, Maryland Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings said a whistleblower reported that ACU\u2019s managing director boasted on Inauguration Day that he had exchanged texts with Flynn indicating that the project was \u201cgood to go\u201d and that U.S. sanctions hobbling the project would be \u201cripped up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the account raised serious questions about the blurring of Flynn\u2019s private and public interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flynn, who spent a month as Trump\u2019s top national security aide before he was fired by the new president, pleaded guilty 10 days ago to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with Russia\u2019s ambassador about the Obama administration\u2019s Russia sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flynn is now cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s probe into Russia\u2019s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Cummings said last week in a letter to House Oversight committee chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., that his staff had informed Mueller\u2019s office about the whistleblower\u2019s account and delayed making the information public \u201cuntil they completed certain investigative steps. They have now informed us that they have done so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In ACU\u2019s letter to Cummings last week, Thomas Cochran, the firm\u2019s senior scientist, said the witness\u2019 allegations \u201care patently false and unfounded.\u201d Cochran said that phone billing records for the firm\u2019s managing director showed no communications with Flynn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, Cummings\u2019 staff released his response to Cochran\u2019s denial, questioning whether the text message billing records it cited covered all communications on Jan. 20 between Flynn and Copson. Cummings noted that Copson could have messaged with Flynn through encryption applications that would not reveal the texts in billing statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course, it is possible that you were using a messaging application that does not generate a telephone company record. It is possible that the website printout that you provided does not reflect all text messages,\u201d Cummings said to Copson. Cummings urged Copson to allow House investigators to question him \u201cto help resolve these questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also not clear whether Flynn had been provided a government cell phone by the inauguration or owned a private cell phone with another number \u2014 or whether Copson was using another phone at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Copson and Cochran worked with Flynn starting in 2015 when the former U.S. Army lieutenant general joined up with ACU in its plan to build dozens of reactors in the Mideast with aid from Russian and other international firms. Copson has said that his firm provided Flynn with a $25,000 check \u2014 left uncashed \u2014 and paid expenses for Flynn\u2019s 2015 trop to the Mideast to aid the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cochran said that Copson sent only two messages and received only one message on the day of Trump\u2019s inauguration. None came from a cell phone that Flynn used when he worked for the firm in 2015 and 2016, Cochran said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copson\u2019s billing statements \u201cflatly contradict the core allegation that Mr. Copson received a text message from General Flynn during President Trump\u2019s inaugural speech,\u201d Cochran said in his note to Cummings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An investment firm that once hired Michael Flynn has denied he sent text messages during President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration indicating U.S. sanctions would be \u201cripped up\u201d so a nuclear reactor project in the Middle East involving Russian interests could proceed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1854],"class_list":["post-56755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ESJEC4NU6RGMBIYQVJWRSBHMTY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/12\/12\/firm-denies-flynn-texted-its-director-on-us-sanctions\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n