Michael Flynn
On Feb. 14, 2017 Michael Flynn resigned his position as Trump's National Security Adviser due to possible violations of the Logan Act for discussing sanctions with the Russian Ambassador before Trump was inaugurated.
Timeline
| 2017.06.29 | The Wall Street Journal reports that Russian hackers discussed during the 2016 presidential campaign if they could obtain emails deleted by Hillary Clinton and get them to Michael Flynn, the retired general who was then a member of the Trump campaign. buzzfeed.com (See also 2016 Campaign, Corruption, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2017.07.13 | In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Justice Department released Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s SF-86 security-clearance that shows he denied having any contact with foreign governments or their representatives. theatlantic.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Administration Errors, Russia) He did. |
| 2017.08.04 | Investigators working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, recently asked the White House for documents related to the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, and have questioned witnesses about whether he was secretly paid by the Turkish government during the final months of the presidential campaign. nytimes.com (See also Corruption, Conflicts of Interest, 2016 Campaign) |
| 2017.09.13 | Donald Trump's former national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, has refused a new request to appear as a witness before the Senate intelligence committee, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights. cnn.com (See also Legal Issues, 2016 Election, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2017.11.10 | Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating an alleged plan involving former White House national security adviser Mike Flynn to forcibly remove a Muslim cleric living in the U.S. and deliver him to Turkey in return for millions of dollars. wsj.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Corruption) |
| 2017.11.23 | Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal. nytimes.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Corruption, Legal Issues) |
| 2017.12.01 | Documents released as part of Mr. Flynn’s plea agreement show that his pre-inauguration discussions with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, about foreign policy were part of a coordinated effort by aides running Mr. Trump’s transition into the White House, as Mr. Flynn was directed by a “very senior member” of Mr. Trump’s presidential transition team. nytimes.com (See also Trump Relationship with Russia, Russian Meddling in Election, Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus) |
| 2017.12.01 | Here are the lies that Michael Flynn told FBI agents. axios.com (See also Russia, Trump Relationship with Russia, Criminality) |
| 2017.12.01 | Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, called Michael Flynn in December 2016 and told him to call members of the UN Security Council in an effort to stop a vote on a resolution critical of Israeli settlement policy. buzzfeed.com (See also Jared Kushner, Trump Relationship with Russia, Legal Issues, Israel) |
| 2017.12.01 | Michael Flynn is now the fourth Trump staffer to be charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. axios.com (See also Legal Issues, Trump Relationship with Russia, Criminality) |
| 2017.12.01 | Michael Flynn will reportedly testify that Donald Trump instructed him to make contact with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. thedailybeast.com (See also Trump Relationship with Russia, 2016 Campaign, Russian Meddling in Election, Criminality) |
| 2017.12.01 | Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn has promised “full cooperation” in the special counsel’s Russia investigation and, according to a confidant, is prepared to testify that Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians, initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria. abcnews.go.com (See also Russia, Trump Relationship with Russia, Legal Issues, 2016 Campaign, Criminality) |
| 2017.12.02 | A transition advisor to Donald Trump wrote in an email weeks before his inauguration that sanctions would make it difficult to ease relations with Russia, “which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him.” thedailybeast.com (See also Trump Relationship with Russia, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer) |
| 2017.12.02 | Legal experts pointed out Donald Trump may have publicly admitted through a tweet that he knew Michael Flynn had lied to the FBI when the president approached then-FBI Director James Comey and asked him to drop the investigation, which could then indicate an attempt to obstruct justice had taken place. politico.com (See also Legal Issues, Russian Meddling in Election, Corruption) |
| 2017.12.02 | Michael Flynn’s admission that senior transition officials gave him orders last December casts doubt on the Trump administration’s effort to portray Flynn’s pre-inauguration diplomacy as a rogue operation, as Mike Pence, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, and former press secretary Sean Spicer all strongly denied early this year that Flynn discussed sanctions last December with Russia’s ambassador to the US. buzzfeed.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, Mike Pence, Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus) |
| 2017.12.02 | While Donald Trump has called claims of unusual contacts with Russia a “hoax,” emails show top administration aides closely tracked Michael T. Flynn’s calls to the Russian ambassador. nytimes.com (See also Trump Relationship with Russia, False Statements, Legal Issues) |
| 2017.12.03 | As the F.B.I.’s Russia investigation draws closer to him, President Trump on Sunday unleashed an extraordinary assault on the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, calling it a biased institution whose reputation for fairness was “in tatters.” nytimes.com (See also Unpresidential Behavior, Unprecedented Actions, False Statements, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2017.12.04 | As the White House contends with questions about who knew about former national security adviser Michael Flynn lying to the FBI, people close to Vice President Mike Pence are trying to make clear that President Donald Trump’s No. 2 knew nothing at all. politico.com (See also Mike Pence, Legal Issues, Russian Meddling in Election, Criminality) |
| 2017.12.04 | K.T. McFarland, a former aide to President Trump, told a senator that she did not talk with Michael T. Flynn about his contacts with a Russian official, but recently surfaced emails suggest she knew of a key phone call. nytimes.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, False Statements) |
| 2017.12.05 | Democrats have placed a hold on the nomination of KT McFarland to be ambassador to Singapore until she answers their questions about her knowledge of communications between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. cnn.com (See also False Statements, Trump Relationship with Russia, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2017.12.06 | Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, told a former business associate that economic sanctions against Russia would be “ripped up” as one of the Trump administration’s first acts. nytimes.com (See also Corruption, Trump Relationship with Russia, Russia) Flynn believed that ending the sanctions could allow a business project he had once participated in to move forward. |
| 2017.12.15 | Before speaking at the FBI National Academy on Friday, Trump said it's "a shame what's happened" to the FBI, called the Russia probe a "Democrat hoax," opened the door to pardoning Michael Flynn, and claimed there was "no collusion." npr.org (See also Unpresidential Behavior, Trump Relationship with Russia) |
| 2017.12.20 | The White House turned over records this fall to special counsel Robert Mueller revealing that in the very first days of the Trump presidency, Don McGahn researched federal law dealing both with lying to federal investigators and with violations of the Logan Act, a centuries-old federal law that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. foreignpolicy.com (See also Trump Relationship with Russia, Legal Activity, False Statements) |
| 2018.03.28 | A lawyer for Donald Trump broached the idea of Mr. Trump pardoning two of his former top advisers, Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, with their lawyers last year. nytimes.com (See also Legal Issues, Russian Meddling in Election) |
| 2018.04.08 | National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton plans to leave the White House — a move that will leave Donald Trump without one of the earliest and sharpest defenders of his “America First" foreign policy. politico.com (See also Resignations and Dismissals, H.R. McMaster) |
Assessments
Daniel Benjamin–Politico Magazine
In his Feb. 14, 2017 article, Benjamin raised the question he did not want lose in the chaos:
Who told Flynn to call Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States? Because I’m convinced Flynn didn’t do it of his own accord. Flynn is a bit player in a much larger story regarding the president’s relationship with the Kremlin, and it’s this story the press needs to focus on.
There is little doubt that Trump elevated Flynn because of his loyalty and the optics of having a recently retired three-star general parroting his views, which few other generals of that rank would consider doing. But Flynn was no grand strategist. He would not have been capable of running a complex political realignment with Russia, and he was woefully ill-cast for the role of national security adviser.