Flynn Plea Gives Mueller Leverage in Trump Probe

by Dramelin 3:00 AM 0 comments

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s guilty plea has given Special Counsel Robert Mueller significant new leverage that may help him pursue more serious charges against others close to Donald Trump, perhaps leading up to the president himself.
Flynn is now cooperating with Mueller, and as part of his plea deal he provided information related to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to two people familiar with the matter, a sign that Mueller’s probe is closing in on the president’s inner circle.
Legal experts said Mueller may seek to use Flynn’s testimony to build a broader case of conspiracy or obstruction of justice.
Flynn told Mueller that he communicated with Russia’s ambassador to the U.
during the presidential transition last December about American foreign policy with the knowledge and direction of senior Trump associates, according to a court document.
The contacts with Russia could violate the Logan Act of 1799, which prohibits U.
citizens from interfering with relations between the U.
and foreign governments, said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Building Block It’s unlikely Mueller would bring criminal charges solely based on the Logan Act, which doesn’t appear to ever have been used as grounds for prosecution, according to 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service.
official, who asked to be remain anonymous, said that a Logan Act case would be a victory for Trump and laughable as the grounds for impeachment moves by Congress.
But violations of the Logan Act could be a building block in making a broader case against Trump or his associates, according to Patrick Cotter, who prosecuted mobsters as an assistant U.
attorney from 1986 to 1994.
“Mueller’s not sitting there saying I’m building the world’s greatest Logan Act case,” said Cotter, who now heads the white collar criminal defense practice at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale P.
“The Logan Act is rare.
Conspiracy -- not so much.
” Under his deal with Mueller, Flynn pleaded guilty of one count of lying to federal agents and provided details about the controversial conversations he held with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
In those discussions, Flynn urged Moscow not to react strongly to sanctions imposed by then-President Barack Obama and to help head off a United Nations resolution condemning Israel.
Trump was president-elect at the time and Flynn was a private citizen, although the retired Army lieutenant general was expected to be named to the White House national security post.
According to a court filing, Flynn said that a “very senior member” of the presidential transition team asked Flynn on Dec.
22 to contact Russian officials to help delay or defeat the UN resolution on Israel.
The very senior member was Kushner, according to the people familiar with the events.
Another person familiar with the push against the UN resolution said it was a collaborative effort that involved advisers Stephen Bannon and Reince Priebus as well as Kushner.
Ultimately, Obama decided not to exercise the usual U.
veto against such condemnations of Israel, and the resolution went through.
Russia Sanctions Flynn also said he reported back on Dec.
29 to a “senior official” in the transition team at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort on his conversations with Kislyak about the sanctions that Obama imposed on Russia because of its meddling in the presidential campaign, the document said.
That official, according to the people familiar with the matter, is K.
McFarland, who was brought into the transition team and later the White House by Flynn.
The people asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
The transition official and Flynn “discussed that the members of the Presidential Transition Team at Mar-a-Lago did not want Russia to escalate the situation,” according to the court document.
Shortly after, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he wouldn’t take retaliatory measures against the Obama sanctions.
White House attorney Ty Cobb downplayed the significance of Flynn’s decision to cooperate with Mueller.
Cobb noted that Flynn was ousted from his post in Trump’s administration for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of his conversations with Kislyak.
“Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr.
Flynn,” Cobb said in a statement.
But now that Flynn has “flipped” from target to witness, to use a favorite term of prosecutors, Cotter said Mueller has a central figure who can provide insight into what was happening within Trump’s inner circle.
“Flynn becomes, potentially, the hub of a wheel of conspiracy,” Cotter said.
“It’s not at all surprising to people who do this kind of work that the actual charges as you are building your case don’t go to the heart of the criminal enterprise that you’re investigating,” Cotter said.
“This is clear evidence that Mueller has now moved an entire level up the ladder of his investigation.