FLYNN EYED IN KIDNAP PLOT
Mueller probes plan to deliver cleric to Turkey
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether former national security adviser Michael Flynn was involved in a plot to seize a Muslim cleric in Pennsylvania and deliver him to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, it was reported Friday.
The retired Army general and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., were to be paid as much as $15 million to get Fethullah Gulen to Turkey from his home in the Poconos, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been trying unsuccessfully to get Gulen, 76, extradited, claiming he was behind a failed coup attempt in July 2016.
The Turkish-born Gulen is an Erdogan ally-turned-enemy whose followers have faced a crackdown by Ankara. He has denied involvement in the coup attempt.
According to the Journal, FBI agents have asked at least four people about a meeting held in mid-December at the ‘21’ Club in Midtown during which Flynn and Ankara representatives discussed how to move Gulen to Turkey.
At the time, Flynn was on President Trump’s transition team but apparently acting on his own.
The discussions allegedly involved the possibility of flying Gulen on a private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali.
Investigators are also looking into what possible role Flynn’s son may have played in the alleged plot, NBC News reported. Flynn Jr. worked closely with his dad at his lobbying firm.
There was no indication that money changed hands or that an agreement was made.
Trump fired Flynn in February after 24 days on the job when reports revealed he had been in contact with then-Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the campaign.
Flynn had worked as a consultant to a Turkish businessman but waited until March to retroactively register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.
The FBI has also been looking into claims made by former CIA Director James Woolsey that Flynn and Turkish officials discussed how to push the United States to kick Gulen out.
Woolsey was a member of Flynn’s firm, the Flynn Intel Group, according to a Justice Department filing by the firm.
Last week, it was reported that Mueller has collected enough evidence to charge Flynn and his son as part of his sweeping probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Flynn’s lawyers denied the Journal story in a written statement later Friday.
“Out of respect for the process of the various investigations regarding the 2016 campaign, we have intentionally avoided responding to every rumor or allegation raised in the media,” Robert Kelner, Stephen Anthony and Brian Smith said in the statement.
“But today’s news cycle has brought allegations about General Flynn, ranging from kidnapping to bribery, that are so outrageous and prejudicial that we are making an exception to our usual rule: They are false.”
Three people familiar with the probe told NBC that authorities also are examining whether Flynn and others discussed a way to free a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who is jailed in the US.