FLYNN PLEADS GUILTY TO LYING
Move suggests cooperation with prosecutors looking at Trump White House
Ex-national security adviser admits lying to the FBI about reaching out to the Russians on Trump’s behalf.
WASHINGTON — Michael Flynn, a retired general who vigorously campaigned at Donald Trump’s side and then served as his first national security adviser, pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI about reaching out to the Russians on Trump’s behalf and said members of the president’s inner circle were intimately involved with — and at times directing — his contacts.
His plea to a felony count of false statements made him the first official of the Trump White House to be convicted in the criminal investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. And his action could be an ominous sign for a White House shadowed for the past year by investigations, turning Flynn into a key government cooperator as prosecutors examine whether the Trump campaign and Russia worked together to influence the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor.
Friday’s developments don’t resolve the paramount question of possible Trump-Russia coordination in the campaign, but they do show that Flynn lied to the FBI about multiple conversations last December with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Court papers make clear that senior Trump transition officials were fully aware of Flynn’s outreach to Russian officials.
The transition officials were not named in court papers, but people familiar with the case identified two of them as Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland, now up for an ambassadorship.
That revelation moves the Russia investigation deeper into the White House. And, given the direct involvement of the transition team in Flynn’s calls with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the plea also raises questions about the accuracy of repeated assertions by the administration that Flynn had misled Mike Pence and other officials when he denied having discussed sanctions with the diplomat.
Flynn, the longtime soldier, stood quietly during his plea hearing except to answer brief questions from the judge. He accepted responsibility for his actions in a written statement, though he said he had also been subjected to false accusations. He said, “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country.”
A former Defense Intelligence Agency chief, Flynn was a vocal Trump surrogate during the campaign, known for leading rally crowds in “Lock her up” chants regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Though prosecutors also had investigated Flynn lobbying work on behalf of the Turkish government, the fact that he was permitted to plead guilty to just one count and faces a guideline range of zero to 6 months in prison suggests that prosecutors see him as a valuable tool in their investigation and are granting a leniency in exchange for cooperation.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat who sits on the Senate intelligence committee, said the news raises the question “of why he would lie and who he was protecting, but today’s news also appears to provide the answer, because Flynn is now reportedly prepared to implicate the White House in instructing him to initiate these previously lied-about communications with the Russians.”