Michael Flynn Pleads Guilty to Lying to the F.B.I. and Will Cooperate With Russia Inquiry
Court documents say that on Dec. 29, Mr. Flynn called a senior transition official who was with other members of the team at Mr. Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago club in Florida “to discuss what, if anything, to communicate to the Russian ambassador about the U. S. sanctions.”
In a statement issued after he entered his plea in a federal courthouse in Washington, Mr. Flynn, 58, denied “false accusations of ‘treason,’” but said
that he had agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors, who are examining whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians during the election and whether the president or his aides sought to cover up those efforts.
Even before Mr. Trump said he would appoint Mr. Flynn as his national security adviser, questions swirled around Mr. Flynn’s connections
to Russia, particularly a dinner he was paid to attend in Moscow in 2015 when he sat at the same table as Mr. Putin.
The guilty plea by Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, brings
the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election into Mr. Trump’s inner circle.
But after accepting Mr. Flynn’s resignation, the president repeatedly said he thought Mr. Flynn was “a very good person” who had been treated poorly.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the F. B.I.
And Mr. Kislyak told Mr. Flynn that Russia “had chosen to moderate its response,” the documents said.
Ty Cobb, the president’s lawyer dealing with the Russia inquiry, played down the potential impact of Mr. Flynn’s deal with federal authorities, saying
that Mr. Flynn served only briefly in the administration and had pleaded guilty to a single count of lying to the F. B.I.