Tag: K.T. McFarland

Former top White House official revises statement to special counsel about Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador

A former top White House official has revised her statement to investigators about a key event in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, after her initial claim was contradicted by the guilty plea of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to people familiar with the matter.

K.T. McFarland, who briefly served as Flynn’s deputy, has now said that he may have been referring to sanctions when they spoke in late December 2016 after Flynn’s calls with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, these people said.

When FBI agents first visited her at her Long Island home in the summer of 2017, McFarland denied ever talking to Flynn about any discussion of sanctions between him and the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, in December 2016, during the presidential transition.

View the complete September 22 article by Shane Harris and Devlin Barrett on the Washington Post website here.

McFarland’s Testimony About Russia Contacts Is Questioned

The following article by Michael S. Schmidt and Sharon LaFraniere was posted on the New York Times website December 4, 2017:

K.T. McFarland, President Trump’s former deputy national security adviser, during her confirmation hearing to be ambassador to Singapore in July. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — A leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioned on Monday whether a high-ranking official in Donald J. Trump’s transition team had been deceptive over the summer about her knowledge of discussions between Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, and a former Russian ambassador.

K. T. McFarland served on the presidential transition team before becoming the White House deputy national security adviser. In July, she was questioned in writing by Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, on whether she had ever spoken to Mr. Flynn about his contacts with Sergey I. Kislyak, who was then the Russian ambassador to Washington, before Mr. Trump took office.

“I am not aware of any of the issues or events described above,” Ms. McFarland wrote in response, sidestepping a direct answer to the question. Continue reading “McFarland’s Testimony About Russia Contacts Is Questioned”