Former U.S. president Obama had warned Trump against Flynn

Former United States president Barack Obama had warned current President Donald Trump against hiring retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor, former Obama administration officials confirmed to CNN on Monday.

Obama warned Trump about Flynn during their Oval Office meeting on November 10 last year, days after Trump was ascended to the chair of the president.

Flynn served as the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency under Obama until he was reportedly forced out of the post 2014 over internal disagreements over policy and management.

Obama's concerns were related to the course of the investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 elections.

According to a senior Obama administration source, "Flynn's name kept popping up."

The White House has also confirmed that Obama did raise concerns about Flynn.

Press secretary Sean Spicer said, "It's true President Obama made it known he wasn't exactly a fan of Gen. Flynn's," adding that the concerns "shouldn't have come as a surprise, since Flynn was an outspoken critic of the Obama administration's shortcomings on foreign policy."

Trump did not, however, pay heed to Obama's counsel on Flynn, bringing aboard the former military intelligence officer who supported Trump during his campaign as his National Security Advisor.

Trump fired Flynn when news broke of his conversations with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.