Mike Flynn Charged with Lying to FBI about Russian Ambassador Meetings

Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, was charged this morning with lying to FBI officials in connection with conversations with a Russian ambassador.

The charging document is short and simple, suggesting that Flynn may be cooperating with the feds in their investigation of whether Russian officials colluded with the Trump campaign and the extent that the Russian government might have meddled with the 2016 presidential election outcome.

The charges allege that Flynn lied when he told FBI officials he had not asked Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak last year to avoid escalating tensions over U.S. sanctions against Russia. He’s also accused of lying to FBI officials when he said he did not ask Kislyak last December to delay or oppose a U.N. resolution (though the charging document doesn’t specify, it’s likely referring to this resolution condemning Israeli settlements).

There’s going to be a whole lot of speculation and analysis throughout the news cycle of what these charges “mean” to the Trump administration. Flynn only served as national security adviser for a very brief time, but he’s the first person in Trump’s campaign who actually made it into his administration to have been charged with misconduct. Paul Manafort and George Papadopoulos were part of Trump’s campaign team, not his administration.

The paucity of the charges against Flynn could mean that the retired lieutenant general is cooperating with FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Flynn’s legal team cut ties with president’s legal team in November and stopped sharing information they had been learning about the investigation, leading to theories that Flynn was working on some sort of deal.

His plea hearing is scheduled for later this morning. If more relevant information comes out about where these charges are leading, I’ll update this blog post. Until then, much like the Manafort charges, I’m going to resist trying to either overplay or underplay the meaning of these accusations in terms of the Trump presidency’s fate.