Mueller probes whether Mike Flynn was involved in trying to obtain Clinton emails

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Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether former national security adviser Mike Flynn played a role during the presidential campaign in trying to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reported Friday that Mueller, who has been tapped to investigate any coordination between President Trump’s campaign and Russia during the election, was involved in a private effort to get the Democratic nominee’s emails from Russian hackers.

The president has repeatedly denied that he or his campaign colluded with Russia during the election.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, served as a Trump surrogate during the campaign and briefly served as national security adviser before being fired over his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, who was Russia's ambassador to the United States.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that a Republican activist named Peter Smith, who recently committed suicide, had attempted to seek out Russian hackers believed to have Clinton’s emails.

The outlet reported that Smith had “portrayed Mr. Flynn as an ally in those efforts and implied that other senior Trump campaign officials were coordinating with him, which they have denied.” The report said Flynn’s son was also named in correspondence and conversations.

Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., on Friday dismissed the story on Twitter.

“BIG nothingburger folks....more #fakenews as usual,” he tweeted.

He added, “Not even remotely worried about this. HRC lost on her own because she was a terrible candidate. Bernie supporters should STILL b pissed.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Smith believed 33,000 of Clinton’s deleted emails had been obtained by hackers.

According to authorities, the 81-year-old Smith died May 14 after asphyxiating himself in a Minnesota hotel room. He left a note saying “no foul play whatsoever” had occurred.