Trump’s legal team preparing for offensive against EX-NSA Flynn
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s legal team is reportedly getting ready to brand former national security adviser Michael Flynn a “liar” to defend the president from allegations emerging from the latter’s cooperation in the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Flynn has admitted to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials as a member of Trump’s transition team in December 2016 — a crime which carries a maximum jail term of five years. However, the former lieutenant general has entered into a plea deal, under which he is cooperating in return for a possibly reduced punishment —the senior-most former Trump staffer to be cooperating with the FBI investigation.
Trump’s defence lawyers plan to use Flynn’s confession to lying to damage his credibility. “He’s said it himself: He’s a liar,” a member of the team told The Washington Post.
He has confessed to multiple contacts with the then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016. One of those interactions was about trying to enlist Russian help to prevent or stall a vote in the UN Security Council against Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, which the Obama administration had planned to allow.
Another interaction was about sanctions the Obama administration had imposed on Russia over elections meddling. Flynn asked Russia to not retaliate, promising the measures will be reversed.
When asked about these interactions, Flynn lied first to the FBI, and then to vice president Mike Pence. Trump fired him for that, but continued to defend him publicly, calling him a “wonderful man”, and has refused to say if he will pardon him or not.
“I don’t want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet,” Trump told reporters earlier this month. “We’ll see what happens. Let’s see.”