Michael Flynn: Lawbreaker Or Political Victim?

Michael Flynn, a retired US Army Lieutenant General, was the 24th US National Security Advisor. He was forced to resign from his post in February 2017 after misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US.

Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Kislyak and admitted to urging the ambassador not to respond to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in retaliation for Russian election interference. He also admitted to lying about Turkish lobbying and research work.

Flynn's actions may have violated two laws: the obscure Logan Act and the law against making a false statement. However, it is unlikely that he will be prosecuted for either.

In May 2020, the Department of Justice moved to drop its prosecution of Flynn, and in November 2020, President Trump pardoned him.

Lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador

Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. This took place in December 2017, and Flynn admitted to making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements about his conversations with Kislyak.

Flynn's discussions with Kislyak took place in late December 2016 and January 2017. During these conversations, Flynn urged Kislyak not to retaliate in response to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration due to Russian election interference. Flynn lied about these conversations to the FBI in January 2017, shortly after he assumed his role as National Security Advisor.

Flynn's guilty plea acknowledged that he was cooperating with the Mueller investigation, and his sentencing was delayed several times while he continued to cooperate with prosecutors. However, in January 2020, Flynn filed to withdraw his guilty plea, and in May 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to dismiss the criminal information against him. This motion was granted, and Flynn received a presidential pardon from Trump in November 2020.

Violating the Logan Act

The Logan Act is a federal law that was passed in 1799. It calls for the fine or imprisonment of private citizens who attempt to intervene without authorization in disputes or controversies between the United States and foreign governments. The law was enacted at a time when the US was more tolerant of the idea that someone could be sent to jail for partisan political opposition or libelous speech.

Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general in the United States Armed Forces, was accused of violating the Logan Act through his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. In December 2016, Flynn, who was then the incoming National Security Advisor, urged Kislyak to have Russia oppose or delay a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine. This was done at the instruction of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.

On 29 December 2016, President Obama announced that the United States would take retaliatory measures against Russia in response to their interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Trump and his transition team feared that the sanctions would damage Russia-US relations, and Flynn spoke with Kislyak, urging Russia to respond only in a "reciprocal" manner to the sanctions and not escalate.

On 12 January 2017, columnist David Ignatius made public that Flynn had called Kislyak on 29 December 2016, and questioned if Flynn had said anything to "undercut the US sanctions". In response, Flynn instructed incoming deputy national security advisor K.T. McFarland to lie to The Washington Post, stating that he had not discussed the sanctions with Kislyak. McFarland did this, knowing it was false, and The Washington Post reported the denial. Flynn then proceeded to lie about not discussing the sanctions with Kislyak to incoming chief-of-staff Reince Priebus, incoming press secretary Sean Spicer, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who repeated Flynn's falsehood to the media.

The Logan Act has never been used to successfully prosecute any American citizen. However, it was considered in the case of Michael Flynn, and his communications with the Russian ambassador did violate the Act.

Making a false statement

Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to “willfully and knowingly” making false statements to the FBI about his communications with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Flynn was forced to resign from his position as National Security Advisor in February 2017 after serving for less than a month. This was due to him allegedly misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials about his conversations with Kislyak.

In December 2017, Flynn agreed to plead guilty to a felony count of "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI about the Kislyak communications. He also agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel's investigation.

Flynn's sentencing was delayed several times as he continued to cooperate with the investigation. However, in January 2020, he filed to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming government vindictiveness and breach of the plea agreement.

In May 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to dismiss the criminal information against Flynn, stating that his questioning was "untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI's counterintelligence investigation." However, Judge Emmet Sullivan did not immediately grant the DOJ's request, instead setting up a process to examine the department's stated reasons.

Ultimately, Flynn received a presidential pardon from President Trump in November 2020, bringing an end to his legal battle.

Lying about Turkish lobbying and research work

Michael Flynn, a retired United States Army lieutenant general, was the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He was forced to resign after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about the nature and content of his communications with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Flynn's lobbying group, the Flynn Intel Group, was hired by Inovo BV, a Dutch-based company owned by a Turkish businessman, to investigate Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-resident cleric wanted by the Turkish government. Flynn's firm was paid more than $500,000 for this work. However, Flynn failed to register as a foreign agent after accepting this contract, which was a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). In March 2017, Flynn retroactively registered as a foreign agent and filed his FARA statement, but he omitted information about the true nature of the work.

In December 2017, Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI about the content of his telephone conversations with Russian officials while serving as Trump's transition team and as national security advisor. He also admitted that his firm had been hired to influence American opinion about who orchestrated the recent attempted coup against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the leader of Turkey.

Flynn's actions with regard to his lobbying work for Turkey and his failure to disclose the true nature of this work could be considered a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Accepting payments from Russian entities

In December 2015, Michael Flynn was paid $45,000 to deliver a speech at a Moscow event celebrating the ten-year anniversary of RT, a state-controlled Russian television network. He also received $11,250 for two speeches in Washington, one for Volga-Dnepr Airlines, a Russian cargo airline, and another for Kaspersky Government Security Solutions Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of a Russian-based cybersecurity firm. In total, Flynn was paid more than $65,000 by companies connected to Russia in 2015.

Flynn failed to disclose these payments, and in 2017, the leading Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight Committee stated that he had likely violated the law. The committee chairman, Jason Chaffetz, said: "As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey or anybody else. And it appears as if he did take that money, it was inappropriate, and there are repercussions for a violation of law."

Flynn's financial relationship with RT may have violated the emoluments provision of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits retired military officers from accepting gifts from foreign powers. This was the conclusion of Rep. Elijah Cummings, who, as the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released documents obtained during the committee's inquiry into Flynn's activities.

In May 2022, the Army notified Flynn that it would seek to recoup over $38,000 of the compensation he had received for the Moscow speech, as he was found to have violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which applies to military retirees.

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