Reaction: Former National Security Adviser may have broken the law

Bi-partisan leaders of the House Oversight Committee say classified military documents show  former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn may have broken the law.

To that, Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline says the American people deserve better.

He issued a statement reading in part, "It’s disturbing that Michael Flynn tried to conceal payments he received from the Kremlin in order to get a security clearance."

Leaders of the oversight committee told reporters on Tuesday it appears the Rhode Islander did not inform the government about tens of thousands of dollars worth of payments he received from a Russian organization.

"It is a very big deal. You can’t take money from a foreign government and then hide that. It sets you up for blackmail and it’s against the law,” said Brown University Professor Jim Morone now points to the irony in the situation.

"This is the man who led the Republican convention in lock her up lock her up. He really played the lock her up theme. Boomerang, it looks like he could have done a serious violation. It’s not just the taking of the money. It’s taking the money and then not informing the Department of Defense, hey I took some money I could be vulnerable to blackmail,” said Morone.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer says he doesn’t know whether the former national security adviser broke the law.

"The president made a decision a while ago because general Flynn was not straight with the Vice President at the time and he let him go. I think he stands by that decision and it’s up to others to review all this information that’s coming out,” said Spicer.

An attorney for Flynn tells ABC News that Flynn briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency and that he answered any questions that were posed by DIA concerning the trip during those briefings.