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Flynn Admits to Lying to FBI in Testimony

<p class&equals;"MsoNormal" style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;" align&equals;"center">Michael Flynn&comma; who was let go as President Donald Trump&rsquo&semi;s National Security earlier this year&comma; pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia&rsquo&semi;s ambassador&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn had a few calls with the Moscow&rsquo&semi;s ambassador&comma; Sergey Kislyak&comma; about a month prior to Trump&rsquo&semi;s inauguration&comma; but on Friday he admitted in a 45-minute hearing to misleading FBI agents by making &ldquo&semi;false&comma; fictitious and fraudulent statements&rdquo&semi; in Robert Mueller&rsquo&semi;s investigation&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn admitted to making untruthful statements when asked in December 2016 if he did not ask Kislyak &&num;8220&semi;to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia that same day&semi; and Flynn 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&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn also denied asking Kislyak to delay the vote on the United Nation Security Council resolution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Mueller has obtained indictments on Trump&rsquo&semi;s former campaign chair Paul Manafort&comma; his deputy&comma; and from a junior foreign policy adviser&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">National Security Lawyer Brad Moss suspects that Flynn&rsquo&semi;s plead deal shows he is going to cooperate with Mueller&rsquo&semi;s investigation and will be sharing information on other U&period;S&period; officials&rsquo&semi; and their involvement with Russian officials&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;Given the narrow scope of the indictment&comma; I would put good money on it that this was the negotiated terms of the deal&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Moss in an email to <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">The Hill&period;<&sol;em> &&num;8220&semi;Mueller agreed to charge Flynn with a single felony in exchange for cooperation and material information &lpar;as well as not prosecuting him for other things&rpar;&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">But&comma; Flynn said in court Friday that his testimony statements were not due to a promise of a specific sentence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn but also said that a &ldquo&semi;very senior member&rdquo&semi; of the Trump transition team was involved in his conversations with Russia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;Prosecutors said Mr&period; Flynn consulted several times with top Trump transition officials on his contacts with Russia&comma; suggesting special counsel Robert Mueller is closely scrutinizing other prominent Trump associates&period; But his ultimate targets&comma; and the exact nature of any potential wrongdoing&comma; remain unclear&comma;&rdquo&semi; writes the <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">Wall Street Journal<&sol;em>&period; &ldquo&semi;Mr&period; Flynn also acknowledged&nbsp&semi;in court documents filed Friday&nbsp&semi;that a &ldquo&semi;very senior member&rdquo&semi; of the transition team had directed his contacts over the U&period;N&period; issue&period; The people familiar with the matter said the &ldquo&semi;very senior member&rdquo&semi; was Mr&period; Kushner&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The White House released a statement Friday morning that said &&num;8220&semi;nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr&period; Flynn&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;The conclusion of this phase of the special counsel&&num;8217&semi;s work demonstrates again that the special counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion&comma;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;said Ty Cobb&comma; a White House lawyer&period; <span style&equals;"mso-spacerun&colon; yes&semi;">&nbsp&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;People in the building are very happy&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said a source about how the White House felt about the charge to <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">CNN&period; <&sol;em>&&num;8220&semi;This doesn&&num;8217&semi;t lead back to Trump in any way&comma; shape or form&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn faces a maximum of five years in prison&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn said his actions &&num;8220&semi;were wrong&comma; and&comma; through my faith in God&comma; I am working to set things right&rdquo&semi; and that &&num;8220&semi;my guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel&&num;8217&semi;s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country&period; I accept full responsibility for my actions&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Trump was in office for less than a month when Flynn was forced to quit&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Flynn apologized in his resignation letter to the president and vice president for giving &ldquo&semi;incomplete information&rdquo&semi; about his discussions with the Russian ambassador&period; Flynn then filed an updated foreign registration form&nbsp&semi;which proved he didn&rsquo&semi;t disclose multiple contacts and payments while he was a Trump campaign adviser&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Author&rsquo&semi;s note&colon; <&sol;strong>This has ignited speculation that Mueller will put pressure on Flynn to implicate Trump in something&period; But the bottom line is that no collusion has been shown&period; Not to mention&comma; none of the charges from the Clinton campaign have actually come to pass&comma; why is that&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> Trump has since tweeted that he knew Flynn had lied&comma; and that was part of the reason he was fired&period; But this does not prove collusion&period; We stand by our conclusion that the Russia investigation is the result of Democrat campaign accusations that have no basis in fact&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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