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ByChadDay,Stephen Braun and Julie Pace The Associated Press WASHINGTON Lawyers for retired Lt. Gen. Mi- chael Flynn told President Donald Trump's transition team before the inaugura- tion that Flynn might need to register with the govern- ment as a foreign agent, but Trump was not aware of the possible move, the White House said Friday. The disclosure by White House officials confirms the Trump transition team was aware of the situation in- volving the president's pick for a top national security post either before he joined the government or soon af- terward. But the White House's ac- knowledgement raised new questions about whether Trump's transition team, and later, his White House lawyers, fully vetted Flynn after being informed about his possible filing as a for- eign agent for his lobby- ing during the presidential campaign that may have benefited the government of Turkey. White House spokesman Sean Spicer dismissed ques- tions about whether the in- formation should have given the transition team pause, saying Flynn had "impeccable credentials." Trump fired Flynn last month after less than a month on the job saying he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other ad- ministration officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Spicer confirmed that Flynn's personal lawyer contacted Trump transi- tion attorneys before the in- auguration about the possi- ble filing. But he added that Flynn's representative only asked for guidance and did not provide more details about the lobbying work or Flynn's business dealings. Spicer said Flynn's deci- sion whether to file as a for- eign agent was a personal matter that his own attor- ney would need to handle. Among those told of Fly- nn's lobbying work was Don McGahn, Trump's cam- paign lawyer who served in the transition and later be- came White House counsel, said a person with direct knowledge of the conversa- tions between Flynn's rep- resentatives and the transi- tion team. That person, who was not authorized to describe con- fidential conversations and spoke on condition of an- onymity, said that during discussions after the inau- guration White House law- yers were told Flynn was moving ahead with plans to file as a foreign agent. On Thursday, Spicer had said he did not believe Trump had been told of Flynn's work as a foreign agent. Later that day, Vice President Mike Pence said he was unaware of Flynn's foreign agent work until this week. Flynn and his firm, Flynn Intel Group Inc., filed pa- perwork this week with the Justice Department for- mally identifying him as a foreign agent and acknowl- edging that his work for a company owned by a Turk- ish businessman "could be construed to have princi- pally benefited the Repub- lic of Turkey." In the filings with the Justice Department's For- eign Agent Registration Unit, Flynn and his com- pany described $530,000 worth of lobbying be- fore Election Day on be- half of Inovo BV, a Dutch- based company owned by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin. The lobby- ing occurred from August through November while Flynn was a top Trump campaign adviser. In an interview with the AP, Alptekin said Flynn and his firm filed the registra- tion after pressure from Justice Department offi- cials. Alptekin said he dis- agreed with the decision to register. He also said he had asked for some of his money back. Flynn's registration comes as he has drawn scrutiny from the FBI for his contacts with Russian officials. Through a spokes- man, Flynn declined to dis- cuss the registration. In the filing, his attorney said the lobbying contract quickly ended after Trump's elec- tion in November. On Thursday, Spicer de- fended Flynn's work, say- ing he did it as a "private citizen," but he declined to say whether Trump would have hired Flynn if he had known about the lobbying. "There's nothing nefari- ous about doing anything that's legal as long as the proper paperwork is filed," Spicer said. After Flynn joined the administration, he agreed not to lobby for five years after leaving government service and never to repre- sent foreign governments. It appears that Flynn's work wouldn't violate the pledge because it occurred before he joined the administra- tion in January. The pledge bars Flynn from ever doing the same type of work again in his lifetime. Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, U.S. cit- izens who lobby on behalf of foreign governments or political entities must dis- close their work to the Jus- tice Department. Willfully failing to register is a fel- ony, though the department rarely files criminal charges in such cases. It routinely works with lobbying firms to get back in compliance with the law by registering and disclosing their work. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER Trump transition knew Flynn might register as foreign agent By Eileen Sullivan and Deb Riechmann The Associated Press WASHINGTON As congres- sional investigations into Russia's interference in the 2016 election are ramping up, so is the political di- vision, raising questions about whether lawmak- ers' work will be viewed as credible. The House this week scheduled its first pub- lic hearing, which some swiftly dismissed as polit- ical theater. Even as law- makers began to review classified information at CIA's headquarters, Demo- crats continued to call for an independent panel and special prosecutor. The dynamic under- scored the escalating con- cerns about whether the Republican-led investiga- tions will have the fund- ing, focus and, perhaps most importantly, biparti- san buy-in to produce find- ings that are broadly ac- cepted and definitive. "To be honest, we don't know yet," said Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Demo- crat on the House intelli- gence committee, which is conducting a probe in the House. "I can't say for cer- tain whether that will be possible. I can only say it is very much in the national interest that we do so. Be- cause we cannot allow this to become another Beng- hazi committee." Both Republicans and Democrats have their ex- amples of misguided or failed investigations. For Democrats the caution- ary tale is the years-long probe into the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic com- pound in Benghazi, Libya. Congress spent millions on the effort and the Benghazi committee held four public hearings. But Democrats consistently dismissed it as a political witch hunt aimed at Hillary Clinton. In the end, the commit- tee issued an 800-page re- port and found no new evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton, but it did re- veal that she used a pri- vate email server for gov- ernment business, which dogged her presidential campaign. Other efforts — Water- gate, Iran-Contra and the probe into Wall Street's role in the financial crisis as examples — are gener- ally viewed as having risen above the partisan fray. "The only investigations which have credibility are the ones which are truly bipartisan," said former Sen. Carl Levin, a Demo- crat from Michigan, who ran many congressional in- vestigations during his de- cades in the Senate. "The leaders of the in- vestigation — the chair- man and the ranking mem- ber — must trust each other. That's No. 1," Levin said of how to run a bipar- tisan investigation. On the House and Sen- ate intelligence commit- tees, that trust was shaken when the White House enlisted the Republican chairs to help push back on reports about Trump campaign officials' con- tacts with Russia, one of the elements lawmakers are tasked with investi- gating. Both Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Rep. Devin Nunes of Cali- fornia said they did not do anything improper. Nunes, who was a mem- ber of Trump's transition team, declared he had seen no evidence of im- proper contacts between Trump associates and the Russians as the investiga- tion was just getting un- derway. Successful congressional investigations also need to be funded. The Senate has approved $1.2 million for the intelligence commit- tee for the Russia investi- gation, according to a per- son familiar with budget details who requested an- onymity to discuss figures that are not typical dis- closed. The House intelli- gence committee has re- quested additional money, as well, but that has yet to be approved. By comparison, the Benghazi investigation ul- timately cost that commit- tee more than $7 million. The second key to a suc- cessful investigation, Levin said, is that the committee staffers — a mix of Repub- licans and Democrats — work seamlessly together. WASHINGTON Credibility of Congress' Russia investigations still in question EVANVUCCI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Mike Flynn arrives for a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. CLIFF OWEN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The House Intelligence Committee's ranking member Rep. 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