Michael Flynn charged: What it means for Donald Trump
DONALD Trump’s tweets frequently raise eyebrows, but this one could have serious consequences for the president and his family.
ONE of Donald Trump’s own tweets may have accidentally placed him in jeopardy, as the Russia investigation draws worryingly close to his inner circle.
Over the weekend Mr Trump’s former national security adviser, General Michael Flynn, was charged with lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States.
He pleaded guilty, and is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between Russia and Mr Trump’s presidential campaign.
That in itself is awkward for Mr Trump, who has just seen the first member of his administration charged as part of Mr Mueller’s probe. But with a single tweet, the president - or someone close to him - managed to make the situation even worse.
WHO IS MICHAEL FLYNN?
Michael Flynn is a decorated, retired US Army general who served as director of the Defence Intelligence Agency under Barack Obama, then as a prominent supporter of Mr Trump’s campaign, and finally as Mr Trump’s national security adviser for 24 days at the start of his presidency.
Gen Flynn was forced to resign from the Trump administration after it emerged in the media that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador.
Mr Pence had gone on national television to say Gen Flynn and Mr Kislyak had not discussed the Obama administration’s sanctions on Russia, which were implemented as a response to Russia’s meddling in the US election.
That was false. Gen Flynn had in fact discussed sanctions, in what appeared to be an attempt to undermine the policies of the outgoing president, Mr Obama.
TRUMP’S OWN GOAL
On Saturday, this tweet was posted by Mr Trump’s official account:
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017
The crucial piece of information is that Mr Trump fired Gen Flynn “because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI”. The president has not previously cited lying to the FBI as a reason for Gen Flynn’s departure.
Gen Flynn was fired on February 13. According to former FBI director James Comey, Mr Trump spoke to him the very next day and asked him to “go easy” on Gen Flynn. Mr Trump disputes that account.
“I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more fake news covering another Comey lie!” Mr Trump tweeted overnight.
If Mr Comey is telling the truth, however, it means Mr Trump knew Gen Flynn had committed a crime - lying to the FBI - when he pressured the FBI director to go easy on him. That could constitute obstruction of justice, which is an impeachable offence.
‘SLOPPY TWEET’
White House officials have told The New York Times Mr Trump’s tweet on Saturday only referenced Gen Flynn’s guilty plea for lying to the FBI, and did not indicate he was aware of Gen Flynn’s guilt at the time he spoke to Mr Comey.
It also said Mr Trump was not responsible for the tweet. Instead, Mr Trump’s lawyer John Dowd has claimed he was the one who wrote it, saying it was “my mistake”.
“I’m out of the tweeting business,” Mr Dowd said. “I did not mean to break news.”
Mr Dowd said he had drafted the tweet in a “sloppy” manner.
It’s not uncommon for Presidents to have others tweet on their behalf.
However critics are questioning whether Mr Dowd truly was the author in this case, given Mr Trump’s prolific use of Twitter.
Stanford Professor and former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul pointed out Mr Trump has tweeted 36,500 times, and it was suspicious that after all that time, someone has finally claimed to have written a tweet for him.
Trump has tweeted 36,500 times. To the best of my knowledge, yesterday's tweet -- the one adding evidence to his possible obstruction of justice -- is the first time ever that someone else claimed to write a tweet for him. Just a coincidence?
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) December 3, 2017
Others pointed out it if Mr Trump knew Gen Flynn had lied it could constitute an attempt to obstruct the FBI’s investigation.
...just couldn't resist commenting on Flynn.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) 2 December 2017
Are you ADMITTING you knew Flynn had lied to the FBI when you asked Comey to back off Flynn??????????????????????????????????????????? https://t.co/HJWlUvC99F
Oh my god, he just admitted to obstruction of justice. If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI when he asked Comey to let it go, then there is your case. https://t.co/c6Wtd0TfzW
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) 2 December 2017
NERVOUS INNER CIRCLE
Gen Flynn’s admission that he lied to FBI investigators, and his cooperation with Mr Mueller’s investigation, have focused attention on Mr Trump’s inner circle.
First, let’s look at the plea itself. Gen Flynn has admitted he was told by a “very senior member” of Mr Trump’s transition team to contact Russia and other foreign governments ahead of a United Nations Security Council resolution on Israel.
Sources told Reuters the “very senior” transition official was Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Mr Kushner’s lawyer did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
There’s nothing illegal about what Mr Kushner reportedly did. So why does it matter?
Well, Gen Flynn’s conversations with Mr Kislyak weren’t illegal either - the lies are what got him in trouble. If Mr Kushner, who was recently interviewed by Mr Mueller’s team, has been less than truthful about his own part in Gen Flynn’s contacts with Russia, he too could find himself in hot water.
“I think that if you’re Jared Kushner right now, you’re very nervous,” ABC News’ chief legal analyst Dan Abrams said.
The other critical piece of information is that Gen Flynn is now working with the investigation.
Furthermore, he has been charged with a strikingly light offence - given a wealth of credible evidence implicating him in everything from failing to register as a foreign agent to plotting a kidnapping on American soil, it is surprising that Gen Flynn is only facing punishment for lying. He will face six months in prison at most.
This almost certainly means he has been offered a deal. Mr Mueller has allowed Gen Flynn to plead guilty to a relatively minor charge in exchange for his cooperation. And prosecutors only grant such deals to suspects who can implicate someone further up the chain.
“This is a good enough deal that one has to wonder what Flynn brought to the table,” Jonathan Turley, a legal professor, told The Hill.
“The question that everyone should ask themselves is not what Flynn has but against whom,” added another professor, Stephen Vladeck. “With an indictment already pending against (Paul) Manafort, who else would it be worth it to Mueller to plead out Flynn in exchange for dirt on?”
There are not many people higher than Gen Flynn on the food chain. Most of them, in fact, are members of Mr Trump’s family.
“Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr Flynn,” was the White House’s response to this weekend’s developments. You have to admire the optimism.
SUSPICIONS GROW
Meanwhile, leading Democrat Adam Schiff says suspicions of obstruction of justice by Mr Trump are growing.
Mr Schiff argued if the evidence shows that Mr Trump knew about and directed Flynn’s Russia contacts, and then asked Comey to drop the matter after his lies to the FBI came to light.
“Then you get the case of obstruction of justice,” Mr Schiff said.
“I think that’s the significance of this context in which the president was intervening,” he said on ABC’s This Week.
Mr Comey has testified under oath to politicians that a day after firing Gen Flynn, Mr Trump asked him to drop the Flynn probe.
— with AP/Reuters
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