White House: Trump unaware of Flynn's foreign-agent work

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump was not aware his former national-security adviser, Michael Flynn, had worked to further the interests of the government of Turkey before appointing him, the White House said Thursday.

The comments came two days after Flynn and his firm, Flynn Intel Group Inc., filed paperwork with the Justice Department formally identifying him as a foreign agent and acknowledging his work for a company owned by a Turkish businessman could have aided Turkey's government.

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday called the action "an affirmation of the president's decision to ask General Flynn to resign."

At the White House, asked whether Trump knew about Flynn's work before he appointed him as national-security adviser, press secretary Sean Spicer said, "I don't believe that that was known."

Pence said in an interview later with Fox News he also did not know about Flynn's paid work.

Flynn and his company filed the registration paperwork describing $530,000 worth of lobbying before Election Day on behalf of Inovo BV, a Dutch-based company owned by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin. In an interview with The Associated Press, Alptekin said Flynn did so after pressure from Justice Department officials.

The filing this week was the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency's first acknowledgement his consulting business furthered the interests of a foreign government while he was working as a top adviser to Trump's presidential campaign.

Flynn's disclosure that his lobbying -- from August through November -- may have benefited Turkey's authoritarian government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came as Flynn has drawn scrutiny from the FBI for his contacts with Russian officials.

Trump fired Flynn last month for misleading Pence and other administration officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.

In paperwork filed with the Justice Department's Foreign Agent Registration Unit, Flynn and his firm acknowledged his lobbying "could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey."

The lobbying contract ended after Trump's election in November, according to the paperwork.

A spokesman for Flynn, Price Floyd, said he was not available for an interview Thursday. Floyd referred the AP to Flynn's filing in response to questions about why he and his firm had decided to register this week.

Flynn's attorney, Robert Kelner, declined to comment through a spokesman for his law firm, Covington & Burling. The Turkish Embassy also didn't respond to questions from the AP.

Spicer said he didn't know what Flynn had disclosed about his background and lobbying work during the White House's vetting of him for appointment as national-security adviser.

Spicer said Flynn was free to do the lobbying work because it occurred while he was a private citizen.

"There's nothing nefarious about doing anything that's legal as long as the proper paperwork is filed," Spicer said. He declined to say whether Trump would have appointed Flynn had he known about the lobbying.