{"id":11240,"date":"2020-12-03T07:25:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T15:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11240"},"modified":"2020-12-03T07:29:36","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T15:29:36","slug":"michael-flynns-firing-a-lie-a-leak-and-then-a-liability-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11240","title":{"rendered":"“Michael Flynn’s firing: A lie, a leak, and then a liability”, NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Carol E. Lee,\u00a0Dec. 3, 2020<\/p>\n

Inside the 25 days that shook the Trump presidency.<\/em><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Michael Flynn was looking for a criminal defense attorney \u2014 on the internet.<\/p>\n

The sun had set and much of the White House staff had cleared out for the night. Nearly alone, Flynn hovered over his assistant who was seated at her desk just outside his corner office, scanning attorney biographies on her computer screen.<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t told the president or his top advisers what prompted the Google search: Two FBI agents had interviewed him that afternoon about his contacts with Russia.<\/p>\n

It was Flynn\u2019s fifth day as President Donald Trump\u2019s national security adviser. On Feb. 13, 2017, the 25th day of the Trump presidency, Flynn would be gone, fired for lying to the vice president and the FBI.<\/p>\n

Now, after twice pleading guilty to making false statements to federal agents, Flynn is a free man \u2014 thanks to a president who says his former national security adviser was targeted by an overzealous FBI in a set up orchestrated by political foes. On a balmy Thanksgiving eve in Washington, Trump short-circuited the judicial process to grant Flynn a full pardon. He wished the retired Army general and his family a warm holiday. And Flynn returned the favor by appealing to the president\u2019s leading grievance, writing that his former boss has been \u201cviciously targeted\u201d as a victim of \u201ca coup against our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s Nov. 25 pardon abruptly capped nearly four years of legal and political drama that began when Trump fired a national security adviser he\u2019d come to privately disparage and ended with the White House declaring Flynn \u201can innocent man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president has pardoned General Flynn because he should never have been prosecuted,\u201d the White House statement read. Vice President Mike Pence has so far been silent about the pardon. After portraying himself as a victim of Flynn\u2019s deception who unwittingly repeated his falsehoods publicly, Pence earlier this year said he believes Flynn unintentionally misled him about his clandestine talks with the Russians.<\/p>\n

But a comprehensive examination of his time as Trump\u2019s national security adviser, including interviews with more than 20 people who were directly involved in uncovering or covering up his actions, suggests that Flynn knowingly misled investigators and the president\u2019s inner circle repeatedly. Once considered one of the country\u2019s top intelligence officials and skilled in deception, Flynn not only concealed key details of his conversations with Vladimir Putin\u2019s handpicked ambassador in Washington, but also an investigation he knew was closing in on him.<\/p>\n

By the end of the first week of Trump\u2019s presidency, as the new administration plunged itself into foreign and domestic turmoil, a small group of senior White House officials had been repeatedly confronted with the truth about Flynn\u2019s conversations with Russia\u2019s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak \u2013 that they had discussed newly-imposed U.S. sanctions against Moscow. They also learned that two FBI agents had questioned Flynn about those conversations in a secure conference room just a short walk from the Oval Office, and that he\u2019d answered with a false account similar to the one he\u2019d given Pence.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s forgetting that Flynn was fired because he was lying to everyone,\u201d one senior White House official directly involved with the Flynn matter said recently. \u201cAfter weeks of asking him, he was still saying he never talked to the Russian ambassador about sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as officials grappled with Flynn\u2019s own cover-up, they too engaged in similar action. The president and his closest aides worked to keep the revelations, including warnings from senior Justice Department officials that Flynn could be blackmailed by the Russians, from the public and just about every senior official in the fledgling administration all the way up to the vice president.<\/p>\n

White House officials who worked alongside Flynn when he was national security adviser described a perfect storm of secrecy, distrust, loyalty and confusion that enabled the retired three-star general to remain on the payroll of the American taxpayers, with access to the country\u2019s most tightly held secrets and at the helm of life-and-death decisions \u2014 despite knowledge at the highest levels of government that he could be a liability.<\/p>\n

Those who agreed to share details from that time spoke to NBC News over many months on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Their recollections revealed angry confrontations between a deceptive Flynn and his colleagues in the West Wing, an indecisive president more worried about his public image than the potential national security implications of Flynn\u2019s actions, and a White House counsel searching for a crime instead of confronting a potential threat. Key evidence that Flynn had lied was only shared with Pence when its existence became public \u2014 15 days after Trump and a handful of senior White House officials were informed of it.<\/p>\n

This period of time, which was the subject of intense examination by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, stood at the intersection of his investigations: how Russia interfered in the 2016 election, whether Trump associates conspired with Moscow in that endeavor, and if the president attempted to obstruct the FBI\u2019s investigation into any such coordination.<\/p>\n

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Flynn was one of the first Trump associates to be ensnared in the Russia investigation \u2013 and on Nov. 25 of this year he became the first to be relieved of the legal consequences of being a convicted felon.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s use of the presidential pardon power circumvented a pending decision by a federal judge, Emmet Sullivan, on whether to move forward with sentencing Flynn after the Justice Department filed a motion on May 7 to dismiss the case. Leadership at the Justice Department wasn\u2019t consulted about the pardon and had preferred to see through the request for dismissal, which argued there was no investigation to justify the FBI interview in which the former national security adviser made false statements.<\/p>\n

Flynn admitted to making false statements in that interview not only about his Russia contacts but also his attempt during the Trump transition to scuttle an Obama administration effort to condemn Israeli settlements with a resolution at the United Nations. As part of his plea deal, Flynn further admitted to giving false statements to the Justice Department about being paid for lobbying on behalf of the government of Turkey.<\/p>\n

Sullivan balked at the Justice Department\u2019s motion to dismiss a case the president had relentlessly portrayed as unfair in his efforts to undermine the Mueller investigation. Sullivan brought in a retired federal judge \u2014 who, as an assistant U.S. attorney, had prosecuted the mafia boss John Gott \u2014 to argue that the judicial branch can reject a Justice Department request to dismiss a case if it\u2019s believed to be politically motivated.<\/p>\n

This past summer, Flynn tried to force Sullivan to grant the Justice Department\u2019s motion. But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately rejected the effort.<\/p>\n

It was one of many dramatic twists and turns in the sentencing of Flynn since he first appeared in Sullivan\u2019s court in December of 2018. At that time the judge angrily rejected Mueller\u2019s recommendation that Flynn merely be put on probation because he was a model cooperating witness. Over the next year, Flynn made the surprise decision to hire new lawyers, broke from the federal prosecutors he\u2019d cooperated with and requested to withdraw his guilty plea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn truth, I never lied,\u201d Flynn wrote in a court filing this past January. \u201cI will fight to restore my good name.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to specific questions about this article, Flynn\u2019s lawyer, Sidney Powell, referred NBC News to court filings posted on her website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s first lawyer, Robert Kelner, declined to comment. The White House and Pence\u2019s office had no comment.<\/p>\n

A pardon for Flynn was a long-sought outcome for the president who hired him, fired him and, until losing re-election, said he\u2019d consider bringing him back into the White House.<\/p>\n

From his earliest days in office Trump has sought to shield Flynn from federal investigation, reportedly asking his then-FBI director to let any inquiry go. And after distancing himself from Flynn when he cooperated with the Mueller investigation, Trump later latched onto his case as a political cudgel. Flynn became a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre for the president and his Republican base.<\/p>\n

Had Sullivan sentenced Flynn, Trump made clear he would pardon him, and the president\u2019s team had been prepared since at least June for an announcement. \u201cThere was no question internally whether he would pardon Flynn,\u201d a senior White House official said. It was just a matter of when.<\/p>\n

In September, Powell, Flynn\u2019s lawyer, said during a court hearing that she had spoken with the president directly and asked him not to pardon her client. But with Trump leaving the White House on Jan. 20, time was running out. \u201cThat was the motivation,\u201d the senior White House official said of the timing.<\/p>\n

Still, the pardon changes nothing about why Trump has said he fired Flynn: because he lied. Neither does Flynn\u2019s reversal on his guilty plea. Or Pence\u2019s newly adopted view that he is now \u201cmore inclined to believe\u201d Flynn didn\u2019t intentionally lie to him.<\/p>\n

That Flynn remains the leading personification of Trump\u2019s grievances \u2013 namely that forces are out to get him \u2013 and a catalyst for additional presidential pardons based on similar motivations makes his time as national security adviser and the circumstances around his firing newly germane.<\/p>\n

Despite the lies and warnings that Flynn could be compromised, the president and his closest aides didn\u2019t seriously discuss firing Flynn until the controversy was made public by journalists. That delay allowed Flynn to play a leading role in every sensitive national security decision in the early days of the Trump presidency:<\/p>\n

* Trump\u2019s hastily executed order banning travel to the U.S. by individuals from some majority-Muslim countries.<\/p>\n

* An ill-fated counterterrorism raid in Yemen that led to the death of a Navy SEAL.<\/p>\n

* A North Korea missile launch that caught the new administration flat-footed at the president\u2019s Florida resort.<\/p>\n

* Flynn publicly put Iran \u201con notice\u201d over its aggression in the Middle East, a move that foreshadowed sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n

* As head of the National Security Council, Flynn arranged for a permanent council seat for the president\u2019s chief political strategist, Steve Bannon, an unusual move and an unwelcome surprise to Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jan. 26, 2017<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Trump was unmoved.<\/p>\n

White House counsel Don McGahn was sharing what he had just learned: Flynn had been interviewed by the FBI and may have lied. McGahn had just met with Acting Attorney General Sally Yates for about 15 minutes and chief among Yates\u2019 concerns was that Flynn wasn\u2019t truthful with Pence and other White House officials when he told them he had not discussed U.S. sanctions with Kislyak, Russia\u2019s ambassador in Washington, during phone calls several weeks before Trump\u2019s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017.<\/p>\n

Flynn and Kislyak spoke on Dec. 29, 2016, the same day the Obama administration announced new sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow\u2019s interference in the U.S. presidential election held the month before. They spoke again two days later, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he would not retaliate against the U.S. for the sanctions. Putin\u2019s restraint had shocked American intelligence officials, who only later learned about Flynn\u2019s discussions with Kislyak while analyzing Russia\u2019s response to the sanctions.<\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s Dec. 29 conversation with Kislyak became public in news reports on Jan. 12. Three days later, Pence said publicly that after talking to Flynn he could confirm that call \u201chad nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.\u201d That raised concerns at the Justice Department that Pence might also be in on the deception with Flynn.<\/p>\n

The White House didn\u2019t know it but the FBI had previously opened an investigation into Flynn because of concerns about his relationship with the Russian government. And Flynn\u2019s phone calls with Kislyak, as well as his false assurance to Pence that they didn\u2019t discuss sanctions, had raised new alarms among investigators.<\/p>\n

McGahn explained Flynn\u2019s possible legal exposure: the perjury statute and the Logan Act, which makes it illegal for any American to negotiate with foreign governments in a dispute with the U.S. without authorization from the current U.S. government.<\/p>\n

Trump, with his chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Stephen Bannon by his side, listened but seemed unphased. He asked McGahn to start again.<\/p>\n

McGahn told the president he didn\u2019t think the FBI clearly had Flynn on charges of giving false statements and, after meeting with Yates, McGahn wasn\u2019t sure what the issue was: Is Flynn a security risk? Should the president get rid of him? Is the national security adviser under investigation?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Trump perked up: \u201cNot again, this guy, this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president had already grown frustrated with Flynn, in what one senior White House official described as \u201ca personality clash.\u201d Trump had started complaining to aides about Flynn during the transition. He thought Flynn interrupted him too much during briefings and that his Kislyak contacts were generating a steady stream of negative press coverage. Just days into his presidency, Trump wouldn\u2019t even look at Flynn during intelligence briefings. \u201cHe couldn\u2019t stand Mike Flynn,\u201d another senior White House official said. \u201cHe wanted to fire Flynn before he even got to the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump told McGahn, Priebus and Bannon not to discuss the issue with any other White House officials. Instead, he directed them to figure out the problem and come back with a plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen no one looked into it,\u201d with any urgency, a senior White House official at the time said.<\/p>\n

Bannon was the one official among them who seemed to possibly know for weeks that Flynn had been lying. He\u2019d spoken with Flynn about the sanctions on Jan. 1 \u2014 the day after Flynn\u2019s second discussion with Kislyak \u2014 and they agreed they had \u201cstopped the train on Russia\u2019s response,\u201d according to Mueller\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

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Trump has insisted he had no knowledge of Flynn\u2019s discussions about sanctions with Kislyak before the talks took place, though federal investigators later found it implausible that senior officials including Bannon and Flynn would have kept it from him.<\/p>\n

The circle of people with knowledge of Flynn\u2019s lies, his FBI interview, and the Justice Department\u2019s warning, was tight. But McGahn made a decision to widen it slightly when he ignored Trump\u2019s instructions and tapped John Eisenberg, a deputy White House counsel and legal adviser to the National Security Council, to figure out whether Flynn had given false statements to the FBI or violated the Logan Act.<\/p>\n

McGahn also figured there must be a recording of Flynn\u2019s phone call with Kislyak that they could listen to. The National Security Agency had wiretapped the phone of the Russian ambassador. It\u2019s a standard U.S. intelligence operation that Flynn, a former military intelligence officer, later said he knew about when the FBI interviewed him on Jan. 24.<\/p>\n

Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe had called Flynn on a secure phone line around lunch time that day to tell him the FBI wanted to come by the White House to talk to him about his contacts with Russians.<\/p>\n

McCabe told Flynn he could have a lawyer present, though stressed that the matter would be handled more quickly if he didn\u2019t. He also said if Flynn did bring along a lawyer, officials at the Justice Department would also have to get involved.<\/p>\n

Flynn replied that he didn\u2019t need a lawyer.<\/p>\n

He agreed to meet without asking McCabe for any details.<\/p>\n

Ahead of their arrival at the White House, FBI officials discussed how to approach Flynn. \u201cWhat\u2019s our goal? Truth\/Admission or to get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired?\u201d one official wrote in a memo.<\/p>\n

By 2:15 p.m. Flynn was alone in the White House with two FBI agents, including FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok. Flynn appeared in a good mood. He talked about everything from hotels he\u2019d stayed at during the presidential campaign to terrorism to Trump\u2019s knack for interior design. He even offered the agents \u201ca little tour\u201d of the West Wing, walking them right past Trump and a couple of movers discussing where to place artwork.<\/p>\n

When the conversation moved to his contacts with Kislyak, Flynn \u201cwas fully aware that federal officials routinely monitor, record, and transcribe such conversations with foreign officials,\u201d he later wrote in a court filing, and knew the FBI probably had transcripts of his calls.<\/p>\n

And yet there in the White House, with the two FBI agents, he denied asking Kislyak to hold back on moves that would escalate tensions. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t, \u2018don\u2019t do anything,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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