President Trump’s presidency is under an unprecedented siege. His former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty to charges of making false statements to the FBI about his conversation with the Russian ambassador in December 2016.
Flynn is specifically accused of :
- Falsely telling FBI agents that on or about 29 December 2016 he did not ask Russia’s then ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, to “refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia that same day”
- Failing to recall that Mr Kislyak had later told him Russia was moderating its response to the sanctions as a result of his request and
- Falsely saying that on or about 22 December 2016 he did not ask Mr Kislyak to “delay the vote on or defeat a pending United Nations Security Council resolution”.
Mr Flynn resigned after misleading the White House about meeting the Russian ambassador before Mr Trump took office. The prosecution is part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.
While Mr Flynn lost his role as national security adviser after only 23 days in the post, a record of sorts. he has long cast a long shadow in Washington DC. He is A retired three-star General of US Army, and was head of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) from July 2012 till Aug 2014 under President Barack Obama. Mr Flynn openly believes that the Muslim faith is one of the root causes of Islamist terrorism.
