Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is reportedly prepared to testify that President Donald Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians” ahead of the 2016 election.
Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to making false statements about his Russian contacts to the FBI. As part of his guilty plea, Flynn will cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s sprawling investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties between Trump’s campaign and the country. Flynn also reportedly admitted that members of Trump’s transition team directed his contacts with Russians.
ABC News reported shortly after Flynn issued his guilty plea that the former national security adviser is prepared to testify against Trump and others in the White House–including that Trump, as a candidate, “ordered him and directed him to make contact with the Russians,” which contradicts what Trump has said about the investigation.
Trump previously characterized the investigation into Flynn as a “witch hunt.”
The Associated Press reports that the former national security adviser admitted in his plea deal that a “senior member” of Trump’s transition team directed him to make contact with Russian officials in December 2016.
Flynn spoke with the “senior official” of Trump’s transition team at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Dec. 29, 2016 about what he should communicate with a Russian ambassador. Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 29.
Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements about him not asking Russia’s former ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, to refrain from “escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia” on Dec. 29, 2016, and that he did not ask the ambassador to delay a vote on, or to defeat, a United Nations Security Council resolution, according to court documents.
A day after Flynn spoke with the Russian ambassador, Trump tweeted that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “very smart” for not retaliating to the sanctions.
In a statement, Flynn said that his plea reflects “a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country.”
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