Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to committee chair Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) last week detailing a whistleblower's claim that former national security adviser Michael Flynn texted a business associate during President Trump's inauguration and promised an immediate end to Russia sanctions.
That business associate was Alex Copson, managing partner of ACU Strategic Partners, and the whistleblower said Copson and Flynn were working together on a joint nuclear reactor project with Russia that would be clear to move forward once sanctions disappeared.
In response to this disclosure, ACU Senior Scientist Thomas Cochran sent Rep. Cummings a letter with Copson's phone records attached, saying they prove Copson did not receive the alleged text message from Flynn on Inauguration Day. It is not clear why Cochran responded on Copson's behalf.
Rep. Cummings responded with a direct request to Copson, asking him to sit for a transcribed interview and noting that cell phone records are insufficient to disprove that the alleged communication took place.
“Of course, it is possible that you were using a messaging application that does not generate a telephone company record,” he wrote. “It is possible that the website printout you provided does not reflect all text messages. It is also possible that you were not being truthful when you claimed to the whistleblower that you received a text from General Flynn, or that you flashed your phone and showed the whistleblower an outgoing text from 12:12 p.m., which is listed on the document you provided.”
Cummings said that the phone records also do not refute the rest of the whistleblower’s account.
Former Flynn associate says phone records contradict whistleblower's account (Politico)