Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has reportedly offered to testify about President Trump's campaign and Russia:
President Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has reportedly told the FBI that he is willing to testify about the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia, in exchange for immunity from prosecution, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Flynn resigned in February, after it was reported that he misled White House staff on his interactions with Russia and had discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak ahead of President Trump's inauguration. The Journal reported, citing officials familiar with the matter, that the FBI and the House and Senate Intelligence committees that are investigating Russia's attempts to interfere in the U.S. election have not taken his lawyers up on the offer.
Flynn's lawyer said in a statement that "General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit."
[...] In September, criticizing Hillary Clinton over former aides being given immunity deals as part of an investigation into her private email server, Flynn said, "When you're given immunity that means you've probably committed a crime."
Also at the LA Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, NYT, and Politico.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @02:07PM (12 children)
It's so sad that one needs to turn to "alternative media" to actually start getting access to even the simple and complete facts behind these stories. And yeah, what you said is correct - though incomplete. Here is the entire release from his lawyer:
Counsel to Lt. General Mike Flynn (Retired)
General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit.
Out of respect for the Committees, we will not comment right now on the details of discussions between counsel for General Flynn and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, other than to confirm that those discussions have taken place. But it is important to acknowledge the circumstances in which those discussions are occurring.
General Flynn is a highly decorated 33-year veteran of the U.S. Army. He devoted most of his life to serving his country, spending many years away from his family fighting this nation's battles around the world. He was awarded four Bronze Stars for actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the war on terror. He received the Legion of Merit twice, and the Defense Superior Service Medal four times. He is a recipient of the Defense Department's Distinguished Service Award and the Intelligence Community Gold Seal Medallion for Distinguished Service, as well as numerous other decorations.
Notwithstanding his life of national service, the media are awash with unfounded allegations, outrageous claims of treason, and vicious innuendo directed against him. He is now the target of unsubstantiated public demands by Members of Congress and other political critics that he be criminally investigated. No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution.
Sourced from zerohedge [zerohedge.com]. Not a fan of the source, but they're obviously not fabricating this and they were one of the only sources reporting the actual text of Flynn's "offer." The other being the Boston Globe but they were behind some sort of a registration wall. The way I sought out the entire report was by googling for the first statement of the quote, "Notwithstanding his life of national service, the media are awash with unfounded allegations." Searching for that and seeing how the so called mainstream media is in no way reporting what was actually said is eye opening.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Friday March 31 2017, @03:03PM (9 children)
I actually got the full statement from CNN, since that is the first result Google returned. CNN just assumed that few would read the entire statement and 99% would just believe anything they told them even with the evidence against their statements just 1 inch down the screen. A very ballsy move, but it always works well for them.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @04:04PM (3 children)
What did you search for? Searching for what I mentioned (logged out - clean cache) I get bostonglobe, zerohedge, abcnews.go.com, talkingpointsmemo, businessinsider.de, bustle.com, etc. The ABC article ( http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/flynn-talks-testify-congress-seeking-assurances-unfair-prosecution/story?id=46478140 [go.com] ) had the quote embedded in parts, but was refreshingly impartial otherwise. Zerohedge was the only site that had the quote readily and directly available.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Friday March 31 2017, @04:12PM (1 child)
"flynn lawyer statement"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @04:18PM
Thanks, yeah I also get cnn's link there with zerohedge in second. I do quite like CNN says, literally and verbatim, "This is the statement released by Michael Flynn's lawyer, which says the former National Security Adviser will testify before federal and congressional investigators in their ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the US elections, but only if he's granted immunity." above it. Geeze. I remember in college watching CNN and feeling like I'd grown up in a way and was starting to become in tune with matters of the world. Hahahah. In my defense, I don't think they'd jumped the shark quite so bad back then!
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday April 02 2017, @02:30AM
The Boston Globe did carry the full statement:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/03/30/read-statement-mike-flynn-lawyer/6L09AKaYKmihEgHlXxTWUM/story.html [bostonglobe.com]
Apart from white space and "U.S." vs. "US" it is identical to what was quoted from Zero Hedge in comment #487083.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday April 02 2017, @02:47AM (4 children)
The CNN links, in case anyone else is trying to follow along:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/31/politics/michael-flynn-lawyer-statement/ [cnn.com]
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/michael-flynn-immunity-testimony/index.html [cnn.com]
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/3533241/Statement-of-Counsel-to-Mike-Flynn.txt [amazonaws.com]
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/3533241/Statement-of-Counsel-to-Mike-Flynn.pdf [amazonaws.com]
The .txt version is identical to what's posted in comment #487083.
> [...] the evidence against their statements [...]
What do you mean by that?
Are you, as the AC who made comment #487139 perceived, making some distinction between "immunity" (CNN's word) and "assurances against unfair prosecution" (from the statement)? Forgive me for repeating what someone else wrote, but I notice that you didn't answer that commenter. "Immunity" seems to me an accurate paraphrase.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Sunday April 02 2017, @03:34AM (3 children)
On the off chance you are not trolling.
The article states, like so many others, Flynn is looking for immunity to testify against Trump.
While the statement is clear that Flynn is very interested in refuting allegations of treason and misconduct by himself, but not front of a media or congress who are only interested in a witch hunt.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday April 02 2017, @07:39AM (2 children)
So you interpret the statement not as a request for "assurances against unfair prosecution" but rather as asking for an end to the "highly politicized, witch hunt environment" in which Mr. Flynn finds himself?
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Sunday April 02 2017, @11:48AM (1 child)
Somewhat, but I was mainly focusing on his stated goal of refuting allegations about himself, while the articles all state or imply his goal is to spill the beans on presidential misconduct.
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Sunday April 02 2017, @03:02PM
Ah, thanks for explaining.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @08:32PM (1 child)
Your zerohedge site is a nazi fake news site. What the fuck is wrong with you?
If you want unbiased new feed, leave amerikan soil. BBC and Al Jazerra are but a couple good choices for unbiased journalism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @09:56PM
Best troll ever!