by Itunuoluwa Adebo

Few hours before former Attorney General Sally Yates was set to testify before a Senate committee, President Trump on Monday  tweeted jabs at her,  including suggesting the ex-Justice Department official leaked classified information.

Yates is expected Monday afternoon to tell a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that she warned the Trump administration about contacts between Russia and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

 

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/861554864542941185

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He was referring to a Jan. 26 exchange in which Yates told White House Counsel Don McGahn about Flynn’s contacts. Trump’a administration described this encounter as Yates giving McGahn a “heads –up.” Yates is likely to testify that she expressed alarm and delivered the information as more of a warning. That meeting quickly made its way into news accounts, fed to reporters by anonymous sources.

Trump fired Flynn in February after Flynn misled Vice President Pence about a conversation he had with a Russian official during the transition period. However, the President has remained surprisingly protective of Flynn, the retired lieutenant general who was one of Trump’s top advisers during the presidential election.

A part of Trump’s push-back was highlighting that Flynn’s 2015 trip to Russia was carried out under a security clearance granted by the Obama administration. He revealed this in his tweet;

“General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama Administration – but the Fake News seldom likes talking about that,” Trump tweet

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General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama Administration – but the Fake News seldom likes talking about that.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017

Yates is set to testify Monday alongside James Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence during the Obama administration. Trump fired Yates, who had been appointed deputy attorney general by former President Barack Obama, after she refused to defend the president’s travel ban executive order in court.