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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 20 June 2017
House Dems question Flynn disclosures of Middle East travel

Continued from Front summer as part of an effort
promoting a U.S.-Russian
Federal and congressional partnership to construct
probes have been looking nuclear reactors for civil-
closely at Flynn’s foreign ian power needs. They also
travel and contacts as part point to Flynn’s June 10,
of investigations into Rus- 2015, testimony before a
sia’s meddling in the 2016 House Foreign Affairs sub-
presidential election and committee.
any possible collusion with During the testimony, Flynn
associates of Trump or his told lawmakers he “just
campaign. came from a trip — fairly
Separately, federal investi- extensive trip to the Middle
gators have been scrutiniz- East,” during which the is-
ing Flynn’s work for a Turk- sue of developing nuclear
ish businessman and the energy in the region came
Defense Department’s in- up. But Cummings and En-
spector general has been gel said it “does not ap-
looking into whether Flynn pear that General Flynn
failed to get U.S. govern- disclosed this trip or any
ment permission to receive foreign contacts as part
foreign payments. Among of his security clearance
those payments was more renewal process,” noting
than $33,000 he received that intentionally conceal-
from RT, the Russian state- In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn walks through the East ing such information from
sponsored television net- Room of the White House in Washington. Two top House Democrats are questioning whether for- a security clearance form
work that U.S. intelligence mer Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn failed to report a 2015 trip to the Middle East is a felony.
officials have branded as on his security clearance form, a potential omission that could add to the legal jeopardy Flynn Cummings and Engel also
a propaganda arm of the faces over the truthfulness of his statements to federal authorities and on government documents. raised questions about an
Kremlin. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) October 2015 trip to Saudi
Flynn’s attorney, Robert the letter. Flynn was not forthcoming They cited a recent News- Arabia, which Flynn did re-
Kelner, declined to com- In their letter, Cummings about a trip to the Middle week report that Flynn flew port as part of his security
ment on the allegations in and Engel said they believe East in the summer of 2015. to Israel and Egypt that clearance review. q
Tech CEOS visit White House to talk modernizing government

By CATHERINE LUCEY technology firms. gently with everybody, migration so that you can your companies,” the presi-
JOSH BOAK “We’re working very dili- including Congress, on im- get the people you want in dent said.q
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
White House on Monday
urged technology CEOs to
pitch in on President Don-
ald Trump’s effort to mod-
ernize government.
“Our goal is to lead a
sweeping transformation
of the federal govern-
ment’s technology that
will deliver dramatically
better services to citizens,
stronger protection from
cyberattacks,” said Trump,
adding that the possible
changes could produce
up to $1 trillion in savings
over 10 years.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and
Eric Schmidt, executive
chairman of Google par-
ent company Alphabet,
were among those attend-
ing an afternoon of work-
ing groups on issues like
technology infrastructure,
cybersecurity and visas
for foreign workers. Trump
has spoken out against il-
legal immigration and
signed an executive order
banning travelers from six
Muslim-majority countries,
a source of tension with