title:  REPORT: NINE Officials Reveal Trump Admin LIED About Talking To Russia About Easing Sanctions
text: Almost immediately following the Nov. 8 election, Trump and his fledgling administration made a point of denying that they were in contact with Russia about anything. Now his own national security adviser, Michael Flynn, is saying otherwise. Flynn has more or less said that he might have discussed the sanctions privately with Russia s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. But there are nine officials who all say he definitely did.Flynn first denied the allegations rather emphatically, according to a report from the Washington Post. However, he walked it back through his spokesman later on, who said that he  indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn t be certain that the topic never came up. That s an interesting way of not answering a question, but it might get him off the hook just a little. The Post reports that no fewer than nine officials, who have access to reports from law enforcement and intelligence agencies that monitor communications of Russian diplomats, say that Flynn s references to the sanctions Obama imposed following the election were explicit and clear. Two also said that Flynn actually told Russia not to overreact to the penalties since all of this could be discussed again after Trump was sworn in.A third official said that either Flynn had lied to Mike Pence, who flatly denied the allegations, too, or that Pence misspoke (knowing this administration, it s the former).Pence told CBS   Face the Nation  the following: I talked to General Flynn about that conversation and actually was initiated on Christmas Day he had sent a text to the Russian ambassador to express not only Christmas wishes but sympathy for the loss of life in the airplane crash that took place. It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States  decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia. After host John Dickerson pressed him on whether Flynn had ever had a conversation about sanctions with Kislyak at any time, Pence said: Well, look. General Flynn has been in touch with diplomatic leaders, security leaders in some 30 countries. That s exactly what the incoming national security advisor should do. But what I can confirm, having spoken to him about it, is that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. He then finished that part of the interview with,  I don t believe there were more conversations. U.S. intelligence agencies became suspicious after Putin s lackluster response to our kicking out all of their diplomats, and they began to look for evidence suggesting that he was promised relief. They discovered that conversations between Flynn and Kislyak had happened around the time we announced the new sanctions and kicked their diplomats out.The administration s position was to deny, deny, deny, because of course. But Flynn isn t exactly denying it anymore. This may have something to do with Congress seeking to limit Trump s ability to ease the sanctions. It may have anything to do with anything   maybe he just feels backed into a corner now.The point is, of all the lies coming out of this administration, this is one of the biggest and the worst thus far. Oddly enough, both Flynn and his son seem to have deleted their Twitter accounts. That could be for any reason, but it s just a little too coincidental to the Post s report.Now we get to wonder what else this administration has done to aid an official enemy. Working to rebuild relationships and strengthen ties is one thing. Working to aid an enemy is another, and that s what Flynn (and by extension, Trump) has done.Featured image by Drew Angerer via Getty Images