Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, center, pleaded guilty last week to lying to the FBI about his pre-inauguration contacts with senior Russian officials. | Susan Walsh/AP Flynn texted partners about nuclear plan during inauguration, whistleblower says House Democrats say the whistleblower approached them in June, but Mueller asked them to not to make the information public until now.

Congressional Democrats said Wednesday they have evidence from a confidential whistleblower that within minutes of President Donald Trump's inauguration, then-national security adviser Michael Flynn sent assurances to former business partners that a plan to build nuclear reactors across the Middle East was "good to go."

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said in a letter dated Wednesday that the whistleblower reported attending an Inauguration Day event with Flynn's former business associate Alex Copson, the managing partner of ACU Strategic Partners.


The whistleblower said Copson gushed that Trump's inauguration was "the best day of my life" because it meant his company's effort to create a U.S.-Russia energy partnership in the Middle East, which reportedly would have included more than two dozen nuclear plants in the region, was moving forward. Copson said Flynn was making sure Obama-era sanctions, which he claimed threatened the nuclear project, would be "ripped up," according to the whistleblower.

And the whistleblower said Copson flipped his phone around to reveal a text message he said came from Flynn describing the nuclear reactor project as "good to go." According to the account, the whistleblower didn't see the substance of the text but recalled seeing a 12:11 p.m. time stamp. At that time, Flynn was on the dais during Trump's inaugural address.

"Our committee has credible allegations that President Trump's National Security Advisor sought to manipulate the course of international nuclear policy for the financial gain of his former business partners," Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in the letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). "These grave allegations compel a full, credible, and bipartisan congressional investigation."

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Neither Flynn's attorney nor Copson immediately responded to requests for comment on Wednesday. Scrutiny of the nuclear plan has risen since congressional Democrats said Flynn did not disclose related trips to the Middle East when he filed his security clearance renewal application in 2016.

Flynn pleaded guilty last week to lying to the FBI about his pre-inauguration contacts with senior Russian officials, and he said he was cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russians to influence the 2016 election. Flynn could also be a crucial witness in an investigation into whether Trump intended to obstruct the Russia investigation by firing former FBI Director James Comey.

Cummings said the whistleblower approached the committee in June, but Mueller’s investigators asked the Maryland Democrat to hold off on the public release of this information “until they completed certain investigative steps.”

“They have now informed us that they have done so,” Cummings told Gowdy, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not respond.



Multiple news reports described emails and accounts revealing boastfulness by Flynn's former partners about their nuclear plan, as well as Flynn's efforts inside the White House to promote the deal.

"This is the start of something I have been working on for years," the whistleblower recalled Copson saying at the Inauguration Day event, according to the Democrats' letter. "Mike has been putting everything in place for us."

Cummings described the whistleblower as "authentic, credible, and reliable." He also said the whistleblower "still fears retaliation" but felt "duty bound as a citizen to make this disclosure." The whistleblower, Cummings added, has expressed willingness to meet with Gowdy if the chairman agrees to keep the individual's identity confidential.

Gowdy responded sharply in a letter to Cummings, refusing the offer and referring it instead to the House intelligence committee, which is leading an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

"While you may want every committee of Congress to investigate the same fact patterns," Gowdy wrote, "it isn't a prudent use of resources — something you used to be mindful of."

He also suggested that Cummings redirect any information he has to Mueller, though Cummings said he's already shared the information with the special counsel's team.

Cummings has complained for months that Gowdy won't subpoena the White House for more details about Flynn's conduct during his brief tenure as Trump's national security adviser. Flynn resigned just 24 days after Trump's inauguration because he purportedly misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian officials in the weeks leading up to the inauguration.

Gowdy has previously declined Cummings' call to subpoena the White House for Flynn records on the grounds that it could conflict with Mueller's probe.

"Much of what is sought by my Democratic colleagues — if properly investigated, charged and proven beyond a reasonable doubt — would carry criminal penalties," Gowdy wrote in an Oct. 18 letter to Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "Congress does not, and cannot, prosecute crimes."

But Cummings used the new information to suggest that Gowdy should drop his objections. He noted that he and Gowdy's predecessor, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, worked together to procure documents indicating that Flynn had omitted key information about foreign contacts on his security clearance forms.

Cummings also argued that Gowdy seemed unconcerned with conflicting with ongoing investigations when the two men led the House investigation into the attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi — a probe that resulted in the discovery of Hillary Clinton's private email server. Cummings released an 11-page memo Wednesday detailing instances when Congress, and Gowdy himself, pursued investigations that ran parallel with separate criminal probes.

Gowdy rejected the suggestion he had reversed his position on parallel probes in his letter.

"Perhaps your memory is poor because you spent two years obstructing, delaying, and obfuscating the investigation," Gowdy wrote. "If it had been up to you, the server would still be a mystery."

