Mike Flynn and Mike Pence
National security advisor Michael Flynn may have lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with a Russian diplomat before the inauguration.
In a Jan. 15 appearance on the CBS News program "Face the Nation," Pence denied that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak -- but Politico reported that the retired general may have misled him about those phone conversations with the diplomat.
A Trump administration official told the website that Pence based his public remarks on private conversations with Flynn, whose ties to the Kremlin have been the subject of numerous news reports.
If Flynn is allowed to mislead the vice president on a matter of importance, one Pence advisor told Politico, that would send a clear signal about his standing in a fractious White House.
Flynn may have violated federal law by discussing government business as a private citizen, which he was at the time, with a foreign nation.
The national security advisor at first denied the reports but then admitted that he could not be certain that the topic of sanctions never came up.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, also flatly denied on Jan. 13 reports that Flynn had discussed sanctions with the Russian diplomat.
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