The Wall Street Journal reports:
Former national-security adviser Mike Flynn and others within the White House ignored repeated legal and ethical warnings as they pushed early in President Trump’s tenure an ambitious plan to build dozens of nuclear-power reactors in Saudi Arabia, according to a report released Tuesday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The report describes how Mr. Flynn and Derek Harvey, whom Mr. Flynn brought to the National Security Council staff to oversee Middle East affairs, worked closely on the plan with a group of retired U.S. generals and admirals who had formed a private company to promote it.
Despite the warnings from career White House staff—and an order by the NSC’s top lawyer to stand down—the White House officials and their private-sector allies worked to place the idea on Mr. Trump’s agenda during a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, and to be discussed during the U.S. president’s May 2017 trip to Riyadh.
Bolding is mine.
Whistleblowers from Trump’s National Security Council have told the House Oversight Cmte that efforts by Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated the law, and investigators fear Trump is still considering it. https://t.co/ygLE0eQVhl
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 19, 2019
Former Trump adviser Mike Flynn and others in the White House pushed Saudi nuclear-plant plan amid legal and ethical warnings, House Oversight report says. https://t.co/dWrIDQTYmc
— Capital Journal (@WSJPolitics) February 19, 2019
Democrats launching investigation into Michael Flynn-supported project to export nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia https://t.co/TZ8JNoSsF7 pic.twitter.com/tA5aVs9uB3
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 19, 2019
Flynn promoted a Saudi nuclear deal as national security advisor despite his direct financial ties to the project and it reportedly never died even after he was fired; seems bad https://t.co/htxbqv1DNA pic.twitter.com/NF5TTNfb0t
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 19, 2019
NEW TODAY: House Dems will investigate efforts by Trump White House appointees to push a Saudi nuclear power deal despite a half-dozen warnings from NSC officials about the ethics and legality of the proposal. Project was backed by Mike Flynn, Tom Barrack. https://t.co/dYc2qP3FDK
— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) February 19, 2019
Days after the inauguration, backers of the project sent documents to Flynn for Trump to approve, including a draft cabinet memo stating that the president had appointed Tom Barrack as a special representative to implement the plan, the report says https://t.co/K7DmVKApUn
— Emily Jane Fox (@emilyjanefox) February 19, 2019
Mike Flynn and others in the White House ignored repeated legal and ethical warnings as they pushed early in Trump’s tenure a plan to build dozens of nuclear-power reactors in Saudi Arabia, per new congressional report. https://t.co/PczHfIKCyN @wstrobel
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) February 19, 2019