Former national security adviser Michael Flynn met with a now-dead GOP operative who allegedly attempted to retrieve missing Hillary Clinton emails from Russian hackers, according to a report Wednesday.

Flynn and Peter Smith met in 2015, after Flynn departed his position leading the Defense Intelligence Agency and was launching his own consulting firm, the Wall Street Journal reports. Smith was also pursuing cybersecurity investment opportunities.

Sources told the Journal that Flynn and Smith communicated and had a professional relationship, although it doesn’t appear that the meeting between the men resulting in any business deals.

“As you are aware Peter started a business relationship with Gen. Mike Flynn in November 2015. We spoke with him on the day he left for his trip to Moscow,” a former associate of Smith wrote to a friend last week, according to an email obtained by the Journal.

An attorney for Flynn declined to comment to the Journal.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017 that Smith spearheaded a campaign to acquire from Russian hackers emails that had been deleted from Clinton’s server. Smith also told the Journal shortly before he died that he was not working on behalf of the Trump campaign. It remains unclear how many people in Trump's circle knew of Smith’s objectives to obtain Clinton’s emails. An autopsy report says Smith committed suicide in a Minnesota hotel room, and police said they found a suicide note that reportedly read, "NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER."

Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into the matter as part of his team's Russia probe examining Russian interference in the 2016 election and if the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Flynn pleaded guilty in federal court last December for lying to the FBI in January 2017 about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn was charged on one count of “willfully and knowingly” making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI about communications exchanged with a Russian envoy. His sentencing date is scheduled for December.