Flynn's Legal Troubles: What Law Was Broken?

Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general in the United States Armed Forces, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Flynn, who served as a National Security Advisor to President Trump, was also accused of failing to disclose payments from Russia and Turkey, which could be prosecuted as a felony.

Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI

Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general in the United States Armed Forces, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This came after he accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer to be the National Security Advisor in 2016.

Flynn's false statements involved conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak when he was the incoming National Security Advisor to President-elect Trump. Flynn agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel investigation as part of a plea deal. In December 2017, Flynn and Special Counsel Robert Mueller agreed to a plea bargain, in which Flynn pleaded guilty to one felony count of "willfully and knowingly making materially false statements and omissions to the Federal Bureau of Investigation" about conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Flynn reiterated his guilty plea before Judge Sullivan in a sentencing hearing in December 2018, and the sentencing was postponed. In January 2020, Flynn moved to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that the government had acted in bad faith and breached the plea agreement. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) later filed a motion to dismiss the charge against Flynn, asserting that they no longer believed they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Flynn had made false statements to the FBI.

Flynn received a pardon from President Donald Trump in November 2020, and the case was dismissed as moot in December 2020.

He misled Vice President Mike Pence

Michael Flynn, the 24th US National Security Advisor, resigned from his position after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature and content of his communications with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US.

Flynn's resignation came after reports that he had lied about his conversations with Kislyak. In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI about the Kislyak communications.

Flynn's tenure as National Security Advisor was the shortest in history, lasting only 22 days.

Flynn's Misleading of Vice President Mike Pence

Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Pence stated that he was "disappointed" in Flynn and supported President Trump's decision to dismiss him.

Flynn had told Pence and other top White House officials that he had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak. However, this was later revealed to be false, as transcripts of the conversations between Flynn and Kislyak showed that they had indeed discussed sanctions.

Flynn's misleading of Pence and other officials created a situation where Russia could have potentially blackmailed him, as they knew he had lied about the nature of their conversations. This posed a significant national security risk, as Flynn was serving as the National Security Advisor at the time.

Flynn's actions also violated the Logan Act, which makes it unlawful for US citizens to carry out correspondence with foreign governments with the intent to influence their actions regarding disputes with the US.

The Fallout of Flynn's Actions

As a result of his misleading of Vice President Pence and other officials, Flynn faced significant consequences. He resigned from his position as National Security Advisor and pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

In addition, Flynn's actions had broader implications for the Trump administration. They raised questions about the administration's relationship with Russia and whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

Flynn's actions also damaged trust within the administration, as Pence and other officials felt misled by his false statements. This led to a breakdown in communication and further contributed to the perception of dysfunction within the Trump White House.

Michael Flynn's misleading of Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, had significant consequences. It led to his resignation, legal repercussions, and raised broader questions about the Trump administration's relationship with Russia. Flynn's actions also damaged trust within the administration and highlighted the dysfunction within the Trump White House.

He failed to disclose payments from Russia

In 2015, Michael Flynn, a retired United States Army lieutenant general, was paid \$45,000 to deliver a speech at a gala dinner in Moscow celebrating the tenth anniversary of RT, a state-controlled Russian television network. In addition to this, he also received payments from Volga-Dnepr Airlines and the U.S. subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm.

Flynn did not initially disclose these payments from Russia-linked companies. In February 2017, he signed a form listing speaking engagements to Russian entities, including RT, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, and Kaspersky Government Security Solutions Inc. However, in an earlier form signed in February 2016, he did not provide an itemized list of the companies that had paid him to speak.

As a retired military officer, Flynn was required to request permission from the Defense and State Departments about prospective foreign government payments before receiving them. He failed to do so and did not properly disclose these foreign payments on his security clearance paperwork. This led to accusations that he had broken the law and sparked scrutiny over his contacts with Russian officials.

In December 2017, 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. However, in May 2020, the Department of Justice dropped the charges against him.

He failed to disclose payments from Turkey

Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to President Trump, failed to disclose payments from Turkey. In March 2017, Flynn retroactively registered as a foreign agent, acknowledging that in 2016 he had conducted paid lobbying work that may have benefited Turkey's government. Flynn's company, Flynn Intel Group, received 530,000 for work that "could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey".

Flynn's failure to disclose these payments may have violated several statutes, including a constitutional ban on foreign payments to retired military officers, known as the emoluments clause. Omitting information from a federal disclosure form required for a security clearance can result in criminal penalties for false statements of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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

He may have broken the Logan Act

The Logan Act is a United States federal law that criminalises the negotiation of a dispute between the United States and a foreign government by an unauthorised American citizen. The Act was passed in 1799 following George Logan's unauthorised negotiations with France.

Michael Flynn, a retired United States Army lieutenant general, was President Trump's first national security advisor. He pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his conversations with a Russian diplomat during the presidential transition in late 2016. Flynn had asked Russia, through its ambassador Sergey Kislyak, to moderate its response to sanctions that the Obama Administration had just imposed.

Flynn's conversations with Kislyak were intercepted by American intelligence. When Sally Yates, the Acting Attorney General, learned about the discrepancy between what the intercepts revealed and what Flynn had told the FBI, she met with then-White House Counsel Donald McGann to warn him that Flynn’s deception made him vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians. Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor soon after.

Flynn's actions may have violated the Logan Act, as he was an unauthorised American citizen who was corresponding with a foreign government with the intent to influence the measures or conduct of that government in relation to a dispute with the United States. However, the Logan Act has not been invoked in recent times, and there has been little judicial discussion of its constitutionality.

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