Rep. Elijah Cummings speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on May 17. | AP Photo Cummings: Flynn appears to have lied to security clearance investigators

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Monday his panel has obtained documents “that appear to indicate” that Michael Flynn “lied to the investigators who interviewed him in 2016 as part of his security clearance renewal.”

Flynn told security clearance investigators he was paid by “U.S. companies” for his 2015 trip to Moscow for an event celebrating the Russian propaganda outlet RT, where he sat at a table with Russian President Vladimir Putin.


Flynn was paid $45,000 by RT for a speech he gave at the event. The money was routed through Flynn's speakers' bureau, Leading Authorities. But Cummings notes that RT paid "directly" for airfare, lodging and other expenses for Flynn and his son.

It is a crime to falsify or conceal information on a security clearance application.

Cummings’ allegations are in a letter sent Monday to the Oversight Committee’s chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Cummings notes that the White House has rejected a March request from the committee for documents on the process it used to vet Flynn before he was named as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

“We need to know what the president, vice president, White House counsel, and other top officials knew about General Flynn — and when they knew it,” Cummings writes.

Flynn’s lawyer on Monday alerted the Senate Intelligence Committee Flynn would not comply with its subpoena for a list of his contacts with Russian officials during the presidential campaign.