Michael Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the eighteenth director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the first national security advisor appointed by President Donald Trump. Flynn served as the twenty-fifth national security advisor from January 20, 2017, to February 13, 2017. He was forced to resign after the Washington Post reported he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the nature and content of his discussions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. Flynn’s 24-day tenure as national security advisor is the shortest in the history of the office.
Flynn was fired because the Washington Post exposed that Flynn had lied to the Vice President. In truth, Flynn may have committed far worse crimes and misdemeanors. It is against the law for anyone other than a US official to negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of the United States. During his reported talks with the Russian Ambassador, he did just that. Furthermore, he apparently lied about his conversations with the Vice President and to the public. He also took illegal payments from foreign governments and failed to register or inform US authorities of his actions even after they told him that he needed to. The former General had his hand out to foreign entities, and they filled it for him. The depth of his corruption is still unknown, but following is a timeline of events that have happened so far.
In 2012, Flynn became director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, in charge of all military attachés and defense intelligence collection around the world. He started to have trouble in his new position almost immediately, and it has been said that his abrasive style didn’t enhance his ability to work and coordinate with other senior leaders.
Eighteen months later, in 2014, James Clapper told Flynn he had to go but could stay until his replacement could be vetted and confirmed.
Opened own consulting company
10/8 2014, the Defense Intelligence Agency sends a letter to Flynn, which says in part, “Accordingly, if you are ever in a position where you would receive and emolument from a foreign government or from an entity that might be controlled by a foreign government, be sure to obtain advance approval from the Army prior to acceptance.”
8/2015 Meets with Trump at Trump Tower in New York for the first time
12/2015 Paid $45k by Russia Today to speak at the state-owned television station’s 10th-anniversary party. At the Gala, he was seated with Vladimir Putin. As a former military officer, it is against federal law to receive emoluments (compensation) from foreign powers. In addition, Flynn is required to register as a Foreign Agent, which he had not done at this time.
2/16/2016 Flynn begins to be an informal policy adviser to the Trump campaign
2/16/2016 Tweets fearing Muslims is rational
Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions… https://t.co/NLIfKFD9lU
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) February 27, 2016
6/14/2016 Russian government hackers penetrated DNC servers, according to The Washington Post. The Russian government denied the charges.
7/20/2016 Flynn leads chants of “Lock Her Up!” at the Republican National Convention aimed at Hillary Clinton. “You know why we’re saying that? We’re saying that because if I, a guy who knows this business, if I did a tenth of what (Clinton) did I would be in jail today.”
9/25/16 Flynn states “When you are given immunity that means you’ve probably committed a crime”
9/27/2016 Trump states “If you’re not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for?”
10/7/2016 Government intelligence officials accuse Russians of the hacks for the first time. The director of national intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security say they have confidence that “the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including U.S. political organizations.
11/10/2016 During a face-to-face meeting behind closed doors, President Obama warns President Elect Trump about Michael Flynn and suggests Trump not hire him. Trump ignores the advice.
11/18/2016 With no vetting by the Trump Administration, Flynn accepts an offer from President-Elect Trump to act as National Security Adviser. Ignoring the fact that Flynn had been out of public service for two years and had been fired by Obama, Sean Spicer would later ask why they would need to vet a General who once held the highest security clearance?
12/9/2016 President Obama orders a review of foreign attempts to tamper with U.S. elections. Trump dismisses the CIA’s finding that the Russians sought to sway the election in his favor. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”
12/16/2016 Obama says the Russian government, at the “highest levels,” initiated the hacks of emails, not voting machines. He vows to retaliate.
12/28/2016 Trump states in response to pending Russian sanctions “I think we ought to get on with our lives”.
12/29/2016 Obama announces the Russian sanctions, which include expelling 35 Russian diplomats and the closing of Russian compounds in Maryland and New York that had been suspected of spying. Trump insists the issue should be put to bed but agrees to meet with intelligence officials for a briefing. “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” Trump says.
12/29/2016 Flynn speaks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about the sanctions. The conversation may have violated the Logan Act, which forbids citizens who have no appointment or authority from the federal government from negotiating with foreign powers.
1/4/2017 Flynn notifies White House Counsel Donald McGahn that he is under investigation by the FBI for receiving secret and unreported funds from a Turkish corporation with ties to the Turkish government. Payments to Flynn are in excess of $500,000.
1/5/2017 (or about this time) Flynn Opposes Obama Administrations plan to arm the Kurds to help with the fight against ISIS. The plan is opposed by the Turkish government, and Flynn has received payments for his influence unbeknownst to the Obama Administration.
1/15/2017 Vice President Mike Pence appears on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and says Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak had nothing to do with the sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.
1/22/2017 Flynn is sworn in as National Security Advisor
1/24/2017 FBI interviews Flynn regarding his conversations with the Russians
1/26/2017 Acting Attorney General Sally Yates meets with White House Counsel Donald McGahn and informs him that the White House National Security Adviser and top White House officials (V.P. Pence) were publicly making statements about contacts with the Russians that the Russians knew to be incorrect. Subsequently, Flynn was in a position to be compromised by the Russians as they knew that Flynn had lied to the Vice President.
1/27/2017 At a follow-up meeting the day after being informed that Flynn could be compromised by his Russian contacts, White House Counsel McGahn asked Attorney General Yates “why does it matter to DOJ if one White House official lies to another White House official?” Yates then explained to Trump’s White House Counsel why lying to other White house staff was not in the best interest of the American public or the Trump administration.
1/30/2017 Trump fires Attorney General Yates
2/9/2017 The Washington Post reports that Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak in December did, in fact, discuss Russian sanctions, contrary to prior assertions by Flynn and Pence.
2/10/2017 An aide to Flynn states that Flynn “has no recollection of discussing sanctions” but that the National Security Advisor “couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up”.
2/13/2017 Hours after Kellyanne Conway states Trump has “full confidence” in Flynn, Flynn resigns in disgrace.
2/14/2017 Flynn claims he never talked about sanctions with the Russians “It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” “If I did, believe me, the FBI would be down my throat, my clearances would be pulled. There were no lines crossed.”
2/15/2017 The New York Times reports that records of intercepted calls show that “members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.”
3/8/2017 Flynn retroactively files as a foreign agent (a person hired by a foreign government to represent them in the US) with the Justice Department. It is reported that he has earned more than $530,000 from just one of the many foreign entities from which he has taken payments.
3/30/17 Flynn asks for immunity in return for his testimony to federal and congressional investigators. His attorney states “General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it should the circumstances permit…”
3/31/2017 In a surprise after his previous insinuations that people who ask for immunity must be guilty, Trump agrees that Flynn should ask for immunity.
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017
4/1/2017 The Senate Intelligence Committee rejects Flynn’s request for immunity.
4/25/2017 House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings announce that they are unable to find any documentation showing Flynn sought approval for his foreign government earnings, or that he reported them to the Defense Intelligence Agency.
4/27/17 The Pentagon Inspector General announced an investigation into whether Flynn had accepted money from foreign governments without the required approval.
4/28/2017 Senate Intelligence Committee request documents from Flynn regarding his communication with Russian officials. Flynn denies the request.
5/9/2017 Trump fires FBI chief Comey who is spearheading the investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. This causes outrage on Capitol Hill as it appears Trump has fired the very person who is investigating him. Trump later calls Comey “a Showboat, a Grandstander”.
5/11/2017 Senate Intelligence Committee Subpoenas Michael Flynn’s documents regarding his interactions with Russian officials.
5/17/2017 Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints Robert Mueller as Special Prosecutor to investigate the Trump Campaign’s possible ties with Russia to influence the 2016 Presidential election.
5/22/2017 Flynn notifies Senate Intelligence Committee that he is invoking his 5th Amendment rights to remain silent so as to not incriminate himself. He will not be turning over documents pertaining to the investigation, nor will he be testifying before Congress.
5/22/2017 In addition to the new Special Prosecutor investigation, there are four congressional committees are currently investigating Russia’s ties to the election: the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
5/23/2017 In response to Flynn’s notification that he will not be turning over records, the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas the records of two of Flynn’s companies. Since the companies are not protected by the 5th amendment, it is believed Flynn will turn over the records. The committee warned Flynn that he may be held in contempt of Congress if he fails to deliver the documents.
6/6/2017 Flynn turns over more than 600 pages of documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Most of the documents are related to his business and regard his interactions with foreign governments. Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said the committee has ruled out considering Flynn’s request for immunity to testify before the committee.
11/23/2017 Flynn’s attorneys cut off communication with Trump’s legal team handling the Russian investigation. This suggests that Flynn may be considering cooperating with Robert Mueller, or may be negotiating some kind of a deal for immunity or reduced charges.
12/01/2017 Flynn pleads guilty of lying to the FBI and pledges cooperation with the special counsel investigating Russian intrusions into the 2016 presidential election.
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