White House reconstruction of days before Flynn firing turned over to Mueller: report

A White House document detailing the nearly three weeks leading up to former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s firing has been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team for review, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

White House counsel Don McGahn reportedly put together a reconstruction of the 18 days between when he was warned Flynn was potentially a target for Russian blackmail and the day he was fired.

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates told McGahn on Jan. 26, 2017, that Flynn had misled senior administration officials, including Vice President Pence, about his communications with Russians, and therefore was susceptible to blackmail.

{mosads}Yates said she declined to answer when McGahn asked her if Flynn should be fired.

McGahn then conducted his own review to see if Flynn had acted illegally, and determined he had not. He later put together a document detailing the time between his meeting with Yates and Flynn’s ouster, which has since been given to Mueller’s team, The Washington Post reported. 

Flynn left the White House on Feb. 13, 2017. He has since pleaded guilty in Mueller’s investigation on charges of lying to the FBI.

Flynn’s departure has reportedly been a point of interest for Mueller in his investigation into the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump initially said he fired Flynn because Flynn misled Pence about his contact with Russians. 

However, he tweeted in December that he had to fire Flynn “because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies.”

In June, former FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress that Trump asked him to end the investigation into Flynn during an Oval Office meeting on Feb. 14. Trump’s lawyers have disputed that account.

Trump fired Comey in May, telling NBC News the “made up story” of Russia’s election hacking was part of the reason why.

If Trump knew that Flynn had lied to the FBI and then asked Comey to drop the investigation, it could amount to obstruction of justice, according to some legal experts.