Sally Yates Contradicts Spicer’s Description Of Her Flynn Warning As A ‘Heads-Up’

  • 7 years ago
Former acting attorney general Sally Yates has contradicted White House press secretary Sean Spicer who has repeatedly called her warning to the White House about former national security adviser Michael Flynn a "heads up."

Former acting attorney general Sally Yates has contradicted White House press secretary Sean Spicer who has repeatedly called her warning to the White House about former national security adviser Michael Flynn a "heads up." 

She made the comments during a recent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper; Yates said about her meetings with White House counsel Don McGahn that she told him “not only what we knew [about Flynn] but why we were concerned about it and why we were telling him about it...and told him specifically that we were giving him this information so that they could act.” 
Cooper then pointed out that Spicer has downplayed the seriousness of her warnings, on multiple occasions, referring to them as a “heads up.” 
In fact, during a press briefing last Tuesday, Spicer said, “Just because someone comes in and gives you a heads up about something and says, ‘I want to share some information’ doesn’t mean you immediately jump the gun and go take an action.” 
When Cooper asked Yates about the phrase, she said, “No, I absolutely did not use not use the term ‘heads up.’”
Yates added, “There was nothing casual about this.” She also said, “Mr. McGahn got it. He knew that this was serious and that it was important.”  
During the interview, Yates also denied leaking information to the press, as President Trump had implied in the past.
On May 8, Trump tweeted, "Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Counsel."

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