Michael Flynn heard U.S. secrets from CIA chief despite concerns about Flynn
CIA Director Mike Pompeo briefed former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on sensitive issues during Flynn's time in the position and during the transition, despite concerns about Flynn held by law enforcement and the intelligence community, CBS News justice and homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.
The New York Times was the first to report on the Flynn briefings.
For weeks, officials with knowledge of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and whether President Trump's campaign representatives had colluded with the Russians were wary about who they were briefing. Mr. Trump fired Flynn on Feb. 13 after, the administration says, Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian officials.
Flynn was among the most pressing concerns, and multiple sources say many officials beyond former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates believed Flynn had been compromised. Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, was fired on Jan. 30 for refusing to defend Mr. Trump's travel ban. In May, Yates told Congress she warned administration officials Flynn "essentially could be blackmailed" because he apparently had lied to his bosses about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.
Before Flynn was fired, he was present when Pompeo briefed Mr. Trump on the most sensitive U.S. secrets.
CIA spokesman Dean Boyd told CBS News the CIA wouldn't comment on any briefings.
"Whether the CIA Director briefed the President on a specific intelligence issue during a specific timeframe is not something we publicly comment on and we're not about to start today," Boyd said.
But some former U.S. intelligence officials say Pompeo had a responsibility to raise concerns he was aware of regarding Flynn. If he did know and didn't speak up, one former official said, Pompeo "failed at his first and foremost job - to protect classified information from compromise."
It's unclear whether Pompeo was aware of the full details of the intelligence on Flynn. But by the time Pompeo was confirmed as CIA director, the questions and concerns about Flynn seemed to be common knowledge among top intel officials.
Some U.S. government officials question whether other intelligence chiefs also had a responsibility to say something before offering briefings. A source familiar with the presidential daily briefings told CBS News that, in hindsight things, look different than they did at the time.
Looking back, the source said, every intel agency should have refused to provide intelligence, but it wasn't the job of intelligence agencies to tell Mr. Trump who to include in the briefings.
"Was that a call the President should have made?" the source asked.