The Times also reported Tuesday that current and former American officials said other Trump associates<br />and campaign officials had had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.<br />Justice told the White House that, contrary to his claims, Mr. Flynn had discussed American sanctions against Russia with the ambassador.<br />The discrepancy between what Mr. Flynn had said publicly<br />and what the Russians (and American intelligence officials) knew made Mr. Flynn vulnerable to Russian blackmail.<br />On Tuesday, the White House admitted that Mr. Trump was told more than two weeks ago about Mr. Flynn’s deception,<br />even though the president told reporters on Friday that he was unaware of a news report to that effect.<br />After Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Spicer said on Jan. 23 that Mr. Flynn again assured him that sanctions had not been discussed.<br />President Trump may have thought the departure of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, would end the<br />controversy over his administration’s involvement with Russia, but the damning revelations keep coming.<br />The White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, gave a similar answer on Jan. 13, as did Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 15.<br />In his resignation letter, Mr. Flynn said he had given senior officials “incomplete information” about the phone call.<br />agents interviewed Mr. Flynn days after the inauguration on that same subject, The Times reported on Tuesday.<br />When word of the Flynn-Kislyak call leaked on Jan. 12, a Trump official denied that sanctions were discussed.
