Former national security adviser Michael Flynn spoke with a “senior official” in President Trump’s transition team at the Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what he should communicate to the Russian ambassador in a highly-scrutinized series of phone calls in December of 2016, according to federal prosecutors.
Flynn and the senior officials discussed both the recently implemented U.S. sanctions on Russia as well as the fact that they did not want Russia to escalate friction between the two nations, lawyers on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team told a federal judge Friday.
After the discussion, Flynn telephoned the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Afterwards, he called the senior transition official and reported the sanctions discussion, prosecutors said.
Kislyak later followed up with Flynn and affirmed that Russia would moderate its response to the sanctions, put in place by then-President Obama. Flynn communicated that exchange to other transition officials, prosecutors said.
Flynn on Friday pleaded guilty to one count of providing false statements to federal investigators, thereby admitting to the charges made by Mueller’s prosecutors.
According to court documents filed by Mueller, Flynn lied when he told investigators that he did not ask Kislyak to “refrain from escalating the situation” in response to sanctions that Obama had levied on Russia.
Flynn also lied, the counsel said, when Flynn said he did not ask the ambassador to either delay or defeat a United Nations Security Council vote.
Prosecutors told Judge Rudolph Contreras that Flynn was told by the senior member of the Trump transition team to reach out to other countries to influence the U.N. vote, in an effort to delay or defeat the resolution.
………
- Discussion
-
Federal prosecutors: Flynn coordinated Russia contacts with Trump officials at Mar-a-Lago https://t.co/BjrE1Hx4FV pic.twitter.com/OctR3YCnob
— The Hill (@thehill) December 1, 2017
Prosecutors stated Flynn was directed to engage the Russians on 12/29/16 by donald’s national security transition team.
Senator Tom Cotton was on that team.
The same Tom Cotton who rabidly defended Mike Flynn.
The same Tom Cotton about to be nominated as CIA Director.
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) December 1, 2017
A little promotion to keep his mouth shut?
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.