White House says no basis for probe of Flynn’s calls to Russian diplomat

The White House said Monday it doesn’t know of any basis for a federal investigation of national security adviser Mike Flynn’s calls to Russia’s ambassador in late December, characterizing the contacts as courtesy calls.

In response to reports of a probe into Mr. Flynn’s phone calls, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said there were two calls covering four subjects: Setting up a call between then-President-elect Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin; exchanging Christmas greetings; offering condolences for the loss of lives in a Russian plane crash; and a Syria conference on the Islamic State.

The probe is part of a counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s activities such as cyber attacks in the U.S.