(FiveNation.com)- The Washington Post reported last Friday that former Trump administration national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn had been notified that the Army is pursuing a debt collection against him amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.
In January 2021, the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General determined that Flynn received $450,000 from Turkish and Russian interests in 2015 without receiving prior approval from the government.
The results of the IG’s findings prompted the Pentagon to impose a $38,557.06 penalty on Flynn, the same amount Flynn received from the Russian government for attending a December 2015 dinner in honor of the Russian state news agency, RT.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Washington Post obtained a letter sent from the US Army to Michael Flynn in May notifying him that the Army would seek to recoup the money paid to him for attending RT’s tenth-anniversary gala.
The letter, written by Army lawyer Craig Schmauder, said Flynn’s failure to obtain approval from the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of State to attend the event “resulted in a violation of the Emoluments Clause.”
The Emoluments Clause in the Constitution requires former members of the US military receive approval from the government before they can receive money from foreign governments.
Schmauder wrote in his May letter that when a military retiree has been found to violate the Emoluments Clause, the government “may pursue a debt collection.”
Flynn admitted the financial penalty during a May interview with Just the News.
It was at this tenth-anniversary gala for RT that Flynn was photographed sitting beside Russian President Vladimir Putin. Flynn later told NBC News he “didn’t even really talk to” Putin during the event.
