Trump Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation, Hired Him As National Security Advisor Anyway
Trump Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation, Still Hired Him
Michael Flynn, the Trump administration’s Whitewater. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A day after the election, President Obama told Donald Trump that Michael Flynn, whom he’d fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, was not fit for a role in his administration. Trump ignored this warning, making Flynn his national security adviser.
Less than a week after the inauguration, acting Attorney General Sally Yates told White House counsel Donald McGahn that Flynn was lying about his calls with the Russian ambassador, and could be vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians. The Trump administration kept Flynn on for another 18 days, then fired him, ostensibly because he’d misled Vice-President Mike Pence.
Trump’s bizarre loyalty to Flynn has been a recurring theme in a number of scandals — most recently former FBI director James Comey’s claim that Trump urged him shut down the federal probe into Flynn a day after the national security adviser resigned.
A report on Wednesday night made Trump’s decision to hire Flynn even more baffling. According to the New York Times , on January 4 — weeks before the inauguration — Flynn told the Trump transition team that he was under federal investigation over secretly lobbying for Turkish interests during the campaign. Flynn only registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent in early March, saying he was paid $530,000 last year for work that “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.”
In early August, Flynn signed a 90-day contract with Inovo BV, a Dutch company owned by the Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, who is close to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Flynn was reportedly tasked with discrediting Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who lives in Pennsylvania, who Erdogan accused of orchestrating Turkey’s failed coup attempt last summer.
On Election Day, the Hill ran an op-ed penned by Flynn in which he said Turkey “needs our support” and compared Gulen to Osama bin Laden. The op-ed raised concerns that Flynn was working as an unregistered foreign agent, and on November 30 the Justice Department informed Flynn that they were looking into the matter. According to the Times , Flynn alerted the Trump transition about a month later:
Mr. Flynn’s disclosure, on Jan. 4, was first made to the transition team’s chief lawyer, Donald F. McGahn II, who is now the White House counsel. That conversation, and another one two days later between Mr. Flynn’s lawyer and transition lawyers, shows that the Trump team knew about the investigation of Mr. Flynn far earlier than has been previously reported.
Nevertheless, Trump decided to go ahead with plans to make Flynn his national security adviser, giving him access to highly classified intelligence and making him privy to most of the president’s interactions with foreign leaders. McClatchy reported on Wednesday night that a potential conflict arose even before Flynn was sworn in. Ten days before Trump’s inauguration, the Obama administration asked Flynn to sign off on a plan to arm Syrian Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIS, which had been in the works for seven months. Flynn said to hold off, which delayed the operation for months. It’s unclear why Flynn gave the order, but Turkey happens to oppose the move, arguing that the Kurdish forces have ties to a terrorist group. Trump eventually approved the plan, weeks after Flynn was fired.
The revelation raised extremely serious questions about foreign policy decisions Flynn made during his brief tenure as national security adviser. Per McClatchy: “Some members of Congress, in private conversations, have even used the word ‘treason’ to describe Flynn’s intervention, though experts doubt that his actions qualify.”
Coupled with the Times report, it also added fuel to an old Flynn-related scandal. After Flynn registered as a foreign agent in March, the White House said President Trump was not aware of his lobbying for Turkey, though it was widely reported before his hiring. And when asked about Flynn registering as a foreign agent in a Fox News interview, Pence said twice, unprompted, “hearing that story today was the first I’d heard of it.”
Pence was the head of the Trump transition team. In November, Elijah Cummings, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent Pence a letter raising concerns about Flynn being paid by Russian and Turkish interests. In March, the Associated Press reported that prior to the inauguration, Flynn’s lawyer told Trump’s attorneys that he may need to register as a foreign agent. Now the Times reports that Flynn informed the Trump team that he was under investigation as well.
Is what Pence told Fox News false, or are many, many more Trump officials about to lose their jobs for lying to the vice-president?
NYT McClatchyTrump Knew of Flynn Investigation, Still Hired Him: Report http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/trump-knew-of-flynn-investigation-still-hired-him-report.html
Clearly, Trump thumbed his nose at the authority of U.S. law enforcement.
Clearly, Trump thumbed his nose at the authority of U.S. law enforcement.
Clearly, Flynn has the goods on Trump about Russia and Trump is scared shitless he'll talk.
Hillary was under criminal investigation by the FBI and democrats ran her for president anyway. Somebody might be able to complain about hiring Flynn but the democrats complaining that Trump did what they tried to do is beyond gall.
You forget a tiny , but crucial detail. Nomination is not election. Nomination is not ascension to the office.
Besides that, Comey said Clinton would not be indicted BEFORE the Dem convention nominated her.
You're wrong all the way around.
You forget a tiny , but crucial detail. Nomination is not election. Nomination is not ascension to the office. Besides that, Comey said Clinton would not be indicted BEFORE the Dem convention nominated her.
Your crucial detail is completely irrelevant. Democrats nominated Hillary under an investigation and would have elected her that way. Flynn hasn't been indicted at all so democrats would have "hired" Hillary the same way Trump hired Flynn.
You're wrong all the way around.
I had exactly the same thought about you.
It's hilarious watching him try to spin that one.
Bernie supporters sued the DNC for rigging the primary and they turned around and the DNC essentially argued in defense that it has a first amendment right to lie. I thought nominating a liar for president while being investigated by the FBI was the bottom of the barrel but damning Trump for doing what they do shows me that their barrel has no bottom.
It's depressing watching the overwhelming ignorance that is unleashed here every day.
Trump put someone who was under FBI investigation for colluding with Russia into one of the highest national security positions in the government. He didn't "nominate" Flynn pending other approval, he gave him the job.
Trump put someone who was under FBI investigation for colluding with Russia into one of the highest national security positions in the government. He didn't "nominate" Flynn pending other approval, he gave him the job.
And by your own admission in your earlier post, Democrats would have given Hillary the highest position in the world while under an investigation exactly the same way Trump hired Flynn. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
And by your own admission in your earlier post, Democrats would have given Hillary the highest position in the world while under an investigation exactly the same way Trump hired Flynn.
There was always an assumption that Clinton's situation vis a vis the FBI investigation would be resolved before the convention (which it was) , let alone the election. You don't have a point but you keep banging your head against the wall.
There was always an assumption that Clinton's situation vis a vis the FBI investigation would be resolved before the convention (which it was) , let alone the election.
Except democrats didn't know when it would be resolved and Comey reopened the investigation after the convention. You pr assumption aside, democrats didn't put out a single statement that Hillary's nomination was contingent on her being cleared before the convention.
You don't have a point but you keep banging your head against the wall.
The sound you hear is your own head banging.
You have no point. The two circumstances are not comparable. \
Any further derailment of the article will be subject to removal.
End of discussion.
If Flynn wants a high position in the government, all he has to do is switch sex along with parties, and democrats would have no problem running him as the first transgender president investigation and all.
Flynn hasn't been indicted at all so democrats would have "hired" Hillary the same way Trump hired Flynn.
You seem to have trouble reading or understanding. No one "hired" Clinton to be president. And Comey had said she was not going to be indicted BEFORE the Dem convention. You are out of gas.
You seem to have trouble reading or understanding. No one "hired" Clinton to be president.
I'll break it down for you so you can understand what I thought was obvious. An election is a vote to hire someone who is then paid to do a job.
And Comey had said she was not going to be indicted BEFORE the Dem convention.
Still irrelevant. Hillary wasn't indicted at all; Flynn hasn't been indicted at all. Trump hired Flynn under investigation; democrats intended to "hire" Hillary exactly the same way for the highest position on the planet.
You are out of gas.
Your ignition switch is broken.
Flynn is refusing to co-operate with a Senate committee investigating him
The Latest: Flynn’s Lawyer Says He Won’t Answer Subpoena
17 Minutes Ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times local):
11:25 a.m.
A lawyer for fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has informed the Senate Intelligence Committee he will not honor its subpoena for private documents. That’s according to the panel’s chairman, Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.
Burr told reporters Thursday about the response from Flynn’s lawyer. Burr says the panel’s members are not surprised and says, “We’ll figure out on Gen. Flynn what the next step, if any, is.”
The committee is one of several on Capitol Hill investigating possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Flynn was ousted earlier this year from his senior administration job.
Then Robert Mueller will eventually subpoena the same documents in his investigation and if Flynn doesn't give them up then he'll go to jail until he does. A Special Counsel has that power.