Russian officials had “real leverage” over former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates told CNN. In a new interview with Anderson Cooper, Yates says Flynn was in a “serious compromise situation,” which led her to inform the White House. Before his dismissal, Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence, and Yates said there was “certainly a criminal statute that was implicated by his conduct.” At the end of January, Yates said she called White House counsel Don McGahn to warn him that Flynn could become a blackmail target for Russians, based on an interview he gave to the FBI. The White House has since said Flynn was fired due to a “trust issue,” not a legal one. “I don’t know how the White House reached the conclusion that there was no legal issue,” Yates said. “It certainly wasn’t from my discussion with them.”