Tag: Michael Flynn

Trump Says He Is Considering Pardoning Ex-Adviser Michael Flynn

Trump accused the FBI of losing Flynn’s “records.” Attorney General William Barr recently ordered a review Flynn’s criminal case.

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he is “strongly considering” pardoning his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, suggesting that Flynn was unfairly targeted and prosecuted.

“So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has ‘lost’ the records of General Michael Flynn,” Trump tweeted. “How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!”

Trump, whose complaint was fired off within minutes of several other unrelated complaints and concerns, didn’t expand on what he meant by Flynn’s missing records. Continue reading.

Michael Flynn moves to withdraw guilty plea, claiming government ‘vindictiveness’

Washington Post logoFormer national security adviser Michael Flynn asked a federal judge Tuesday evening for permission to withdraw his guilty plea of lying to the FBI in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of Russian election interference, alleging that prosecutors breached his cooperation agreement by demanding his false testimony.

The stunning reversal — more than two years after Flynn pleaded guilty Dec. 1, 2017, and two weeks before he faces sentencing — threatens to sidetrack, if not derail, the prosecution of the highest-ranking Trump official charged and one of the first to cooperate with Mueller’s office.

Any change in plea must be approved by a judge. Continue reading.

Feds recommend six-month prison term for Michael Flynn

The Hill logoThe Justice Department is recommending that former national security adviser Michael Flynn be sentenced to up to six months in prison for lying to the FBI, telling a court that the former Trump adviser has been uncooperative in recent months.

“The sentence should adequately deter the defendant from violating the law, and to promote respect for the law,” the Justice Department wrote in a sentencing memo Tuesday. “It is clear that the defendant has not learned his lesson. He has behaved as though the law does not apply to him, and as if there are no consequences for his actions.”

Flynn had pleaded guilty two years ago and agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation into potential Russian interference in the 2016 election. Continue reading.

Judge rejects claims by Trump ex-adviser of FBI misconduct

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Monday flatly rejected a last-ditch bid by President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn to get the criminal charges to which he already pleaded guilty dropped, brushing aside his claims of misconduct by prosecutors and the FBI.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Flynn to appear for sentencing on Jan. 28, concluding that the retired Army lieutenant general had failed to prove a “single” violation by the prosecution or FBI officials of withholding evidence that could exonerate him.

Sullivan’s 92-page ruling represented a major blow to Flynn, who has tried to backpedal since he pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn’s sworn statements in his plea agreement “belie his new claims of innocence,” Sullivan wrote.

Continue reading

Roger Stone joins the remarkable universe of criminality surrounding President Trump

Washington Post logoOn Friday, President Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone was found guilty on seven criminal charges related to testimony he gave to Congress as part of investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Those charges included five counts of offering false statements, one of obstruction and one of witness tampering. Stone is scheduled to be sentenced early next year.

Stone was with Trump at the very beginning of the president’s time in politics. In fact, Stone long pushed Trump to enter into the political world, encouraging him repeatedly to announce presidential bids in previous cycles. He was sidelined during Trump’s 2016 run after either quitting or being fired; as with many things related to Stone, details are murky.

Friday’s convictions seem to bring to an end the high-profile criminal probes stemming from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The convictions also contribute to a truly remarkable universe of admitted, proved or alleged criminal behavior involving people linked to Trump.

View the complete November 15 article by Philip Bump on The Washington Post website here.

Trump transition adviser convicted on foreign-agent charges

A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Michael Flynn, on a pair of foreign-agent felony charges stemming from work the two men did for Turkish interests during the final months of the Trump presidential campaign in 2016.

The verdicts, returned by jurors in Alexandria, Va., after a weeklong trial and only about four hours of deliberation, amount to a belated courtroom victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the $600,000 lobbying and public relations contract at the heart of the case and then handed the matter off to other federal prosecutors after Flynn’s guilty plea to a false-statement charge in 2017.

Rafiekian, 67, faces up to 15 years in prison on the two felony counts against him: acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., and conspiracy to violate that law as well as to submit false statements to the Justice Department in a foreign-agent filing. Defendants are typically sentenced in accord with federal sentencing guidelines that result in far less than the maximum.

View the complete July 23 article by Josh Gerstein on the Politico website here.

‘What’s happening with Michael Flynn?’ Reporter explains why Trump’s ex-national security adviser is ‘looking at jail’

AlterNet logoProsecutors have lost confidence in the testimony of former national security adviser Michael Flynn — and now he’s looking at possible jail time.

Politico reporter Josh Gerstein, who covered the latest developments in the case against the retired U.S. Army general, explained to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” how the relationship had soured between Flynn and the prosecutors he agreed to cooperate with as part of a plea agreement.

“Michael Flynn has backed off planned testimony in a federal case against a former business associate,” explained co-host Mika Brzezinski. “Flynn was set to be the government’s star witness at that trial, which deals with foreign lobbying work, however, the prosecution now suggests in court filings that they do not believe Flynn would tell the truth on the stand. They now believe he is a co-conspirator, rather than a cooperating witness.”

View the complete July 10 article by Travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Michael Flynn Changes His Story, Putting Him on Collision Course With Judge

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, backed off his planned testimony in a federal case against a former associate, according to court documents unsealed on Tuesday.

Mr. Flynn had previously admitted that he lied on foreign lobbying disclosure forms submitted to the Justice Department but now is blaming his former lawyers, accusing them of filing inaccurate forms without his knowledge. He did not dispute that the filing itself contained false information.

His latest gambit could provoke another dramatic and risky confrontation with the federal judge who delayed sentencing Mr. Flynn last year in a separate case so he could continue to cooperate with the government in the hopes of a lighter punishment. And it was the latest strange turn in a prosecution that should have run its course without much drama after Mr. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to investigators and agreed to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigators.

View the complete July 9 article by Adam Goldman on The New York Times website here.

Michael Flynn won’t testify against former business partner, will be designated co-conspirator

The Hill logoFederal prosecutors will not call President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn to testify at the upcoming trial of his former business partner Bijan Kian and plan to list him as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, according to a court order issued Tuesday.

The order from U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia cites a July 3 notice filed under seal by the government “stating that the government will not be calling Michael T. Flynn as a witness in its case-in-chief.”

A separate court filing made by Kian’s attorneys that was unsealed Tuesday indicates that the government is no longer entirely confident in Flynn as a witness.

View the complete July 9 article by Morgan Chalfant and Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

Michael Flynn won’t testify against former business partner, will be designated co-conspirator

The Hill logoPresident Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn will not be called by the government to testify at the upcoming trial of his former business partner Bijan Kian and is being listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, according to a court order issued Tuesday.

The order from U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia cites a July 3 notice filed under seal by the government “stating that the government will not be calling Michael T. Flynn as a witness in its case-in-chief.”

A separate court filing made by Kian’s attorneys that was unsealed Tuesday indicates that the government is no longer entirely confident in Flynn as a witness.

View the complete July 9 article by Morgan Chalfant and Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.