The fighting Flynn family
Clan follows ‘wounded’ gen. into war
EVEN after the Justice Department filed papers earlier this month to withdraw its deeply compromised case against Gen. Michael Flynn for making false statements to the FBI, the fate of President Trump’s first national security adviser is still unresolved. Presiding Judge Emmitt Sullivan disagrees so strongly with the government’s decision that he appointed a former jurist to find avenues by which Flynn might still be prosecuted.
It’s the latest reversal for the 33year combat veteran and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn joined the Trump campaign in 2016 and became one of the president’s closest advisers — which is why former Obama administration officials had their knives out. Forced out of the White House in February 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty after Robert Mueller’s special counsel prosecutors threatened to bring phony charges against his son.
All the time, Flynn’s large Irish Catholic family, which was raised in Newport, RI, had stood by him.
“The ocean was our backyard,” says one of Flynn’s older sisters, Barbara. They weren’t from the wealthiest parts of the famous New England resort town. “We grew up nine kids in a 1,200-foot-square house with one bathroom,” she says.
Their father had also been in the Army, serving in World War II and Korea. Their mother was a lawyer with a strong sense of duty and patriotism.
“She had a special bond with Mike,” says Barbara. “In the summers, there were lifeguard competitions, college swimmers, and here’s this wiry high-school kid who beats them all. And then after he won, he coached and cheered on the rest of us. If ever you followed someone into war, it’d be Mike. You know he would survive, he would win, and he’d do the right thing. We called him ‘Iron Mike.’ ”
The Flynns knew something was rotten when the press started to smear him after Trump’s victory.
“All of the allegations about him ‘colluding’ with Russia were so preposterous that we knew it was corrupt,” says Joe Flynn, one of the retired general’s younger brothers. “He was being targeted and that galvanized us.”
The Flynns started a legal-defense fund for their brother.
“At first, Mike was against it because he didn’t want it to look like he was pandering,” says Joe. “Also, he figured it would be over soon.”
In a December 2018 hearing, Flynn was prepared to plead his guilt when the judge began accusing him of treason. During a recess, Flynn’s wife, Lori, called attention to the gravity of the situation.
“She said, ‘They’re going to put my husband in jail,’ ” Joe recalls. “Lori is the real hero. And also the biggest victim, watching her husband, who she’s known since they were both 14, being accused of stuff everyone knows is not true.”
Former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell took over Flynn’s case last year and continues to unravel the corruption that targeted her client. Nonetheless, the fallout has been considerable.
“Mike and Lori had to sell their home in Alexandria, [Va.],” says Joe, noting Flynn’s legal bills are north of $5 million and climbing. “He can’t travel without permission and so he can’t really work. His ability to earn an income, as a famous retired general, is significantly curtailed.”
There has been personal fallout as well.
“He learned who his true friends are,” Joe says. “Support comes mostly from noncommissioned officers and former subordinates.”
His peers, however, are AWOL. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for instance, backed Flynn for the DIA job but has failed to show any public support during his travails.
The way the Flynns see it, their brother doesn’t need to be exonerated. He never did anything wrong. This family demands justice.
Lee Smith is author of the bestselling book “The Plot Against the President.”