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Michael Flynn Pleads Guilty to Lying to the F.B.I.
By EILEEN SULLIVAN, ADAM GOLDMAN and MICHAEL D. SHEAR
December 1, 2017
PLAY VIDEO 00:19
Michael Flynn Arrives at Court for Plea Deal
Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, was charged with lying to the F.B.I. about two conversations with the Russian ambassador last December. By CBS, VIA REUTERS on December 1, 2017. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the F.B.I. about conversations with the Russian ambassador last December during the presidential transition, bringing the special counsel’s investigation into the president’s inner circle.
Mr. Flynn, who appeared in federal court in Washington, acknowledged that he
was cooperating with the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian interference in the 2016 election. His plea agreement suggests that Mr. Flynn provided information to prosecutors, which may help advance the inquiry.
The development came at a particularly sensitive moment for the White House, just as Mr. Trump and Republican congressional leaders are toiling to hold together a tenuous coalition to
push through a large tax cut plan. It marked an unwelcome headline at a time when the president’s team is hoping to focus public attention on what they argue is an impressive list of accomplishments in his first year.
SLIDE SHOW 2 Photos
See the Charges: U.S. v. Michael T. Flynn
The White House had no immediate response on Friday to requests for comment on Mr. Flynn’s plea.
The investigation has dogged Mr. Trump’s first year in office. While Mr. Trump can point to the court documents and say they show no evidence of collusion with Russia, the special counsel’s filings so far paint a damning portrait of Mr. Trump’s associates. His former campaign chairman, two other campaign aides, and his former national security advisers
have now all been charged with felonies.
announced by the Obama administration that day against Russia over its interference in the presidential election. And Mr. Kislyak told Mr. Flynn that Russia “had chosen to moderate its response,” the documents said.
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Read Flynn’s Statement of the Offense
The following day, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said Moscow would not retaliate against the United States in response to the sanctions.
resigning on Feb. 13 after it was revealed that he had misled Mr. Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with Mr. Kislyak.
according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote describing that meeting.
In a news conference on Feb. 15, two days after Mr. Flynn’s resignation, the president blamed the media.
“General Flynn is a wonderful man. I think he has been treated very, very unfairly by the media, as I call it, the fake media in many cases,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think it is really a sad thing that he was treated so badly.”
But even before Mr. Trump said he would appoint Mr. Flynn as his national security adviser, questions swirled around Mr. Flynn’s connections to Russia, particularly a dinner he was paid to attend in Moscow in 2015 when he sat at the same table as Mr. Putin.
PLAY VIDEO 01:41
Michael Flynn: A Timeline of His Tenure
The events that led to Flynn’s resignation as national security adviser in February 2017 stretch back to before President Trump’s inauguration. By SHANE O’NEILL, NIRAJ CHOKSHI and A.J. CHAVAR on February 14, 2017. Photo by Kevin D. Liles for The New York Times.
The White House has said that Mr. Flynn has no information to provide prosecutors that would hurt Mr. Trump. A deal between Mr. Flynn and the special counsel is nonetheless significant. He was a key figure in the Trump campaign and the transition team. As Mr. Mueller tries to understand the behind-the-scenes story of those months, hearing from Mr. Flynn is important.
Mr. Flynn was a sometimes high-profile member of Mr. Trump’s campaign, often appearing on Fox News to advocate for the candidate’s foreign policy views.
Like Mr. Trump, Mr. Flynn was a brash, outspoken critic of former President Barack Obama, asserting that Shariah, or Islamic law, was spreading in the United States under his watch — a claim that was repeatedly debunked — and saying that the United States is in a “world war” with Islamist militants.
legal advice in a Twitter post: “Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!”
Mr. Trump was not scheduled to make any public comments on Friday, though Mr. Flynn’s plea provided an awkward backdrop for remarks he was scheduled to give behind closed doors at an afternoon holiday reception with members of the news media.
Correction: December 1, 2017
An earlier version of this article said Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump, had pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. He was expected to plead guilty but had not entered a plea when the article was first published.
Michael S. Schmidt, Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Matt Apuzzo contributed reporting from Washington, and Matthew Rosenberg from Berlin.
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