Inside the White House, Flynn pushed proposal from company he said he had advised

The proposal — to develop a “Marshall Plan” of investment in the Middle East — was being pushed by a company that Flynn said he had advised during the 2016 campaign and transition. The firm was seeking to build nuclear power plants in the region.

His advocacy for the project in the White House surprised some administration officials and raised concerns that Flynn had a conflict of interest. From August to December 2016, he said he served as an adviser to the company, IP3, reporting later on his disclosure forms that he ended his association with the firm just weeks before joining the administration.

To push the idea “in the first week of the administration without any policy process made no sense,” said a person familiar with episode who, like others with knowledge of the incident, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. “It was a business proposal in the form of a policy paper.”