After some internal debate at the highest levels of government between then–Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, and FBI Director James Comey about whether to inform the incoming Trump administration of Flynn’s potentially illegal correspondence with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the Post reports, shortly after Trump took office, Yates, who stayed on as acting attorney general, and another official briefed Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn.
In the waning days of the Obama administration, James R. Clapper Jr., who was the director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, the CIA director at the time, shared Yates’s concerns and concurred with her recommendation to inform the Trump White House. They feared that “Flynn had put himself in a compromising position” and thought that Pence had a right to know that he had been misled, according to one of the officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
It wasn't known precisely what could have made Flynn subject to pressure, Flynn came under investigation for an allegation he shared highly classified information with British and Australian forces.
'I'm proud of that one,' he told the Post. 'Accuse me of sharing intelligence in combat with our closest allies. Please!'