Trump's ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn expected to plead guilty to lying to the FBI Friday
Author: https://www.facebook.com/CNBC
Description: President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn is expected to plead guilty Friday morning to lying to the FBI.
Keywords: Politics, Donald Trump, Politics, White House, business news
Date: 2017-12-01T09:12:14-0500

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Politics

# Michael Flynn, Trump's ex-national security adviser, is expected to plead guilty Friday to lying to the FBI

- President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn is expected to plead guilty Friday morning to lying to the FBI.
- Flynn is the first Trump administration official to be charged in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Tucker Higgins | Dan Mangan
Published 57 Mins Ago Updated 4 Mins Ago CNBC.com
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Michael Flynn to appear in court, faces charges of lying to FBI 19 Mins Ago | 02:33

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn is expected to plead guilty Friday to lying to the FBI about his post-election discussions with Russia's ambassador to the United States.

A plea hearing for Flynn, the first Trump administration official charged in the ongoing Russia probe, has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C. federal court, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office said.

The retired Army lieutenant general is expected to plead guilty to a single criminal count of knowingly making materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements to FBI agents.

Specifically, Flynn is accused of falsely claiming that he had not asked Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, last Dec. 29 "to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia that same day."

Flynn also allegedly lied by telling the FBI "he did not recall the Russian Ambassador subsequently telling him that Russia had chosen to moderate its response to those sanctions as a result of his request," the information says.

Flynn is accused of falsely stated that he "did not ask the Russian Ambassador to delay the vote on or defeat a pending United Nations Security Council resolution," according to the filing.

The instrument used to charge Flynn was a so-called information, which prosecutors typically use when they have obtained cooperation from a target of an investigation.

The expected guilty plea comes a week after news broke that Flynn's lawyers had informed Trump's legal team that they could no longer communicate about Mueller's probe.

That shutdown from the Flynn team was taken as a sign that he was cooperating with Mueller's expansive investigation.

Flynn's lawyers met with Mueller's team on Monday.
Flynn and his son, Michael G. Flynn, have been eyed by Mueller's investigation in connection with a variety of issues, including the elder Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador, and the question of whether he tried to orchestrate the extraction of a Turkish cleric from the United States in exchange for millions of dollars. That cleric has been a target of Turkish president Recep Erdogan.
NBC News reported in early November that sources familiar with Mueller's probe had said the special counsel had assembled enough evidence against both Flynns to indict them on criminal charges.
In addition to Mueller's investigation, Flynn has faced inquiries from the House and Senate, as well as a separate Pentagon probe, for a variety of undisclosed ties to foreign governments.

The first undisclosed contact with a foreign government came in 2015 when Flynn traveled to Russia for the 10th anniversary dinner for RT, a Russian broadcaster. Flynn told security clearance investigators that he was paid by American companies for the trip despite signing a $45,000 contract with the state-funded network.

At the dinner, Flynn was seated next to the Russian president and across from Sergey Ivanov, then Putin's chief of staff, NBC News reported.

Flynn later found himself in hot water for failing to disclose his work during the Trump campaign for Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, which he later said in a filing "could be construed to have principally benefitted the Republic of Turkey."
In a strange twist, Mueller's agents were seeking details about a $15 million deal reportedly hatched in December between Flynn and senior Turkish ministers to deliver the cleric Fethullah Gulen, who's living in exile in Pennsylvania, into Turkish custody. Flynn's attorney has called the report "false."

Flynn's brief tenure in the White House ended after only 24 days because the former Defense Intelligence Agency chief misled Vice President Mike Pence about conversations Flynn had during the transition with a Russian ambassador about U.S. sanctions on the country. Flynn had previously met the ambassador, Kislyak, for a brief meeting at Trump Tower that was also attended by senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

Trump has stood by Flynn as the accusations piled up.

The day after Flynn resigned as national security adviser, Trump told then-FBI Director James Comey that Flynn was a "good guy" and suggested that the FBI director let the situation go, Comey told congressional investigators.
"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," Trump told him, according to Comey's June testimony to the Senate intelligence committee.

The president has called the investigations into Flynn a "witch hunt."

For his part, Flynn and his attorneys had earlier sought immunity for charges related to the investigations.

In March, Flynn's attorney released a statement saying that "General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit."

The Senate Intelligence Committee later rejected Flynn's immunity request, NBC News reported.

President Barack Obama reportedly warned Trump against hiring Flynn two days after Trump's election victory, according to The New York Times.

Representatives for Flynn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC. A White House spokesman referred all questions about Flynn to Trump's outside legal counsel, Ty Cobb.
President Trump has been notified of the Flynn news, an official told NBC News.

Here's the special counsel's filing with the court:

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Tucker Higgins News Associate
Dan Mangan Reporter

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