UPDATE | Yates to testify on Russia; Obama warned on Flynn

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama warned Donald Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser during an Oval Office meeting in the days after the 2016 election, according to three former Obama administration officials.

The information on Monday, from officials who requested anonymity in order to disclose the private conversation, came hours before former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was to testify to Congress about concerns she raised to the Trump administration about contacts between Flynn and Russia.

The highly anticipated hearing — it is Yates’ first appearance on Capitol Hill since her firing — before a Senate panel investigating Russian interference in the presidential election is expected to fill in basic details in the chain of events that led to Flynn’s ouster in the early weeks of the Trump administration. Word that Obama directly warned Trump suggests that concern over Flynn’s possible appointment spread to the highest level of government months before the official’s departure.

The February resignation followed media reports that Flynn had discussed U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period, which was contrary to the public representations of the White House.

Trump moved to distance himself from his former adviser’s troubles Monday, tweeting that it was the Obama administration that gave Flynn “the highest security clearance” when he worked at the Pentagon. Trump made no mention of the fact that Flynn was fired by the Obama administration in 2014.

In a second tweet, Trump said Yates should be asked under oath “if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers” soon after she raised concerns about Flynn with White House counsel Don McGahn on Jan. 26.

Yates is expected to testify that she warned McGahn that Flynn’s contacts — and the discrepancies between what the White House said happened on the calls and what actually occurred — had left him in a compromised position, according to a person familiar with her expected statements. The person was not authorized to discuss the testimony by name and requested anonymity.

White House officials have said publicly that Yates merely wanted to give them a “heads-up” about Flynn’s Russian contacts, but Yates is likely to testify that she expressed alarm to the White House about the incidents, according to the person.

Trump has said he has no ties to Russia and isn’t aware of any involvement by his aides in Moscow’s interference in the election.