Michael Flynn is the key to the Russia scandal — and he may have just flipped on Trump

Posted by DanielS on Saturday, 25 November 2017 06:29.

Washington Post, “Michael Flynn is the key to the Russia scandal — and he may have just flipped on Trump”, 24 Nov 2017:

A lawyer for Michael Flynn has ended communications with President Trump’s legal team, a sign that Flynn may be preparing to cooperate in the Russia probe.

Michael Flynn, who served as President Trump’s national security adviser for just 24 days before being cut loose, may be the key figure to unraveling the entire Russia scandal. If that’s true, the president just got some very, very bad news in the form of a New York Times report:

Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case — an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal.

Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had been sharing information with Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether anyone around Mr. Trump was involved in Russian efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

That agreement has been terminated, the four people said. Defense lawyers frequently share information during investigations, but they must stop when doing so would pose a conflict of interest. It is unethical for lawyers to work together when one client is cooperating with prosecutors and another is still under investigation.

We should be clear that this news is not definitive proof that Flynn is cooperating with Mueller. It may mean only that he is in the process of negotiating a deal to avoid prosecution, and that deal might or might not involve giving information on other figures in the investigation. But if Flynn is indeed cooperating, Trump is in big trouble.

That’s because if Flynn is cooperating, it can only be because he has information to offer Mueller on someone more important than himself. That’s how it works. And who is more important than Flynn? Only a very small number of people. Among those implicated in this whole affair, that group may consist of Jared Kushner and Trump, and that’s about it.



Comments:


1

Posted by Flynn poised to sing on Fri, 01 Dec 2017 15:56 | #

MSNBC, “Michael Flynn to plead guilty in Mueller probe, will admit lying to FBI”, 1 Dec 2017:

Former U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was charged with making false statements to the FBI and is expected to plead guilty Friday morning in federal court in Washington.

Flynn’s lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment.

NBC News reported last month that federal investigators had gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.

Flynn, who was fired after just 24 days on the job, was one of the first Trump associates to come under scrutiny in the federal probe now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

The White House has referred questions about Flynn to outside counsel Ty Cobb.

Related: Flynn’s legal team cuts ties to Trump lawyers

A two-page information filed Thursday in federal court lists a number of false statements that Flynn made about his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in late December 2016.

It says that Flynn falsely claimed he had not asked the Kislyak “to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the U.S. had imposed against Russia,” and that he didn’t recall Kislyak telling him Russia had decided to moderate its response as a result of his request.

It also says he falsely claimed that he didn’t ask Kislyak to “delay a vote on or defeat” a UN Security Council resolution, and then falsely denied that Kislyak had described Russia’s response to the request.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates

Fuller update:

MSNBC, “Michael Flynn to plead guilty in Mueller probe, will admit lying to FBI” 1 Dec 2017:

Former U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was charged with making false statements to the FBI and is expected to plead guilty Friday morning in federal court in Washington.

A two-page information filed Thursday in federal court lists a number of false statements that Flynn is accused of making about his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in late December 2016.

It says that Flynn falsely claimed that he had not asked Kislyak “to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the U.S. had imposed against Russia,” and that he didn’t recall Kislyak telling him Russia had decided to moderate its response as a result of his request.

also says he falsely claimed that he didn’t ask Kislyak to “delay a vote on or defeat” a U.N. Security Council resolution, and then falsely denied that Kislyak had described Russia’s response to the request.

According to the special counsel’s charge, Flynn made the false statements on Jan. 24. That was two days after he was sworn in as national security adviser.

Sally Yates, who was acting attorney general in January, told the Senate in May that she had warned White house lawyers in late January that Flynn might be vulnerable to blackmail from the Russians.

Yates said she had told White House counsel Don McGahn that Flynn had not told the truth to Vice President Pence about his conversations with Kislyak about sanctions.

“To state the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians,” Yates told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.

Flynn’s lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment. The White House referred questions about Flynn to outside counsel Ty Cobb.

NBC News reported last month that federal investigators had gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.

Flynn, who was fired after just 24 days on the job, was one of the first Trump associates to come under scrutiny in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Flynn is the fourth person to be charged in the Mueller probe.

Mueller’s investigators have been examining Flynn’s lobbying work, including whether he laundered money, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

Mueller’s team is also examining whether Flynn attempted to orchestrate the removal of a chief rival of Turkish President Recep Erdogan from the U.S. to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, two officials said.

Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked closely with his father, accompanied him during the campaign and briefly worked on the presidential transition, could be indicted separately or at the same time as his father, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

 


2

Posted by Flynn's guilty plea means... on Fri, 01 Dec 2017 18:50 | #

The Hill, “Flynn’s guilty plea means there’s “more than enough evidence” to probe Trump for obstruction of justice”, 1 Dec 2017:

“Judiciary Dem: ‘More than enough evidence’ to probe Trump for obstruction of justice”

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said on Friday that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s guilty plea is a sign that the House Judiciary Committee has enough evidence to probe President Trump for obstruction of justice.

“There is now more than enough evidence to form the basis of a congressional investigation into the President’s obstruction of justice—and it is long past time that the House Committee on the Judiciary engage on this matter.  I urge Chairman Goodlatte to finally begin our oversight work without delay,” Nadler said in a statement.

“This development adds further weight to our suspicion of President Trump’s corrupt motives when he approached former FBI Director Comey about the Flynn investigation and asked that he ‘let it go,’” he said.

Nadler’s comments come after Flynn pleaded guilty to “willfully and knowingly” making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador.

Federal prosecutors said on Friday Flynn had spoken to a “senior official” on Trump’s transition team at Mar-a-Lago to go over what he should communicate to the Russian ambassador in December of 2016.

ABC News reported on Friday that Flynn would testify is expected to testify that Trump told him to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

 


3

Posted by Flynn to testify, Trump directed me to... on Fri, 01 Dec 2017 19:07 | #

The Hill, “Flynn to testify Trump ‘directed him to make contact with the Russians’: report”, 1 Dec 2017:

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is expected to testify that President Trump instructed him to contact Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, according to a report by ABC News.

Flynn is saying that Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians,” ABC’s Brian Ross said Friday, just moments after Flynn entered a guilty plea for lying about his contact with Russians during the presidential transition period.

Just now: @BrianRoss on @ABC News Special Report: Flynn promised full cooperation to the Mueller team and is prepared to testify that candidate Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians.” http://abcn.ws/2ixWHDL
5:08 PM - Dec 1, 2017

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is expected to testify that President Trump instructed him to contact Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, according to a report by ABC News.

Flynn is saying that Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians,” ABC’s Brian Ross said Friday, just moments after Flynn entered a guilty plea for lying about his contact with Russians during the presidential transition period.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI on Friday, after being charged with one felony count in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to ABC News, Flynn is also prepared to testify against Trump, members of Trump’s family and White House officials.

The former adviser has reportedly also “promised full cooperation to the Mueller team” within the last 24 hours.

Flynn is the first official to hold a formal office in the Trump administration to be implicated by the Mueller probe, which is examining potential ties between the campaign and Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Flynn’s misrepresentation of his conversations with Sergey Kislyak - which took place in December 2016, before Trump took office - were the justification for his ouster from the White House after just 24 days.


4

Posted by Guessedworker on Fri, 01 Dec 2017 21:51 | #

It could be Kushner in the firing line:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-01/kushner-said-have-ordered-flynn-contact-russia


5

Posted by Guessedworker on Sat, 02 Dec 2017 13:21 | #

Oh dear, it was all a mistake.  Nobody broke the law!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-01/abc-makes-epic-mistake-retracts-bombshell-flynn-story


6

Posted by Kushner un-hedged on Sat, 02 Dec 2017 22:33 | #

Well, not exactly. Zero hedge suffers from the syndrome of having to be different to distinguish himself, whether being different is accurate or not.

CNN, “Sources: Kushner was the ‘very senior’ transition member mentioned in court filing”, 2 Dec 2017:

Jared Kushner is the “very senior member” of President Donald Trump’s transition team who directed incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn to contact the Russian ambassador to the United States and other countries about a UN Security Council vote on Israeli settlements, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The filings from Flynn’s plea hearing Friday say a “very senior member” of Trump’s transition team asked Flynn to contact officials from UN Security Council countries, including Russia, to learn where each country stood on the vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity and “to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution.”



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