Senator: Flynn ‘flagrantly’ violated federal law and must be prosecuted for hiding Russia payments

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) flatly accused disgraced national security adviser Mike Flynn of breaking federal law by accepting payments from Russia without properly notifying government officials.

A group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), laid out evidence Thursday morning that showed Flynn had failed to report payments for a speech he gave at an event celebrating the state-run RT network.

Cummings produced letters that showed Flynn, a retired Army general, was warned against accepting foreign money by the Department of Defense, but did so anyway without permission and then failed to report the payments, as required by federal law.

"The evidence that Rep. Cummings just outlined is powerful, mounting, incontrovertible evidence that there has been a violation of criminal law," Blumenthal said.

The Connecticut Democrat said Flynn's actions had violated "significant" federal laws and undermined national security.

"The (Defense Intelligence Agency) letters, the (Department of Defense) letters, the Inspector General letters all testify to a flagrant violation of federal criminal statute that must be investigated and prosecuted," Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal is the first senator to publicly accuse Flynn, who was fired after 24 days on the job for lying to the vice president about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, of breaking the law.