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Law.com
Trump Watch
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Cogan Schneier
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Hello and welcome to the first "official" edition of Trump Watch, coming to you straight from Washington, D.C., also known as Flynn City. I’m your host, Cogan Schneier, a litigation reporter at the National Law Journal and Law.com, legal nerd and dedicated Trump watcher. After months of speculation, the bombshell news broke this morning that Robert Mueller charged former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn with lying to investigators. This is obviously a huge deal, but, why, exactly? Don’t worry, I’m wading through the hot takes and legal analysis to serve you with a quick, easy to follow guide on what’s up with Flynn and why it matters.
Tips, comments, concerns? Hate my Flynn puns? Email me here or tweet at me.
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FLYNN-SANE IN THE MEMBRANE
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Michael Flynn, who served in the White House for President Donald Trump for 25 days, pleaded guilty Friday in federal district court in D.C. to lying to federal investigators about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
This is a monumental moment if for no other reason than Flynn is the first person who actually worked in the White House that Robert Mueller has charged with a federal crime (that we know of). And, Flynn committed the crime—lying to the FBI—on Jan. 24. He didn’t leave the administration until nearly a month later, on Feb. 13.
Flynn wasn't the only one in the spotlight Friday. His lawyers at Covington & Burling, Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony, got an awful lot of screen time as the news networks played and replayed footage of Flynn entering the courthouse.
So now what? First of all, let’s be clear on what Flynn pleaded guilty to:
➤ According to the special counsel’s statement of the facts, Kislyak called up Flynn Dec. 28, the day President Barack Obama announced sanctions against Russia for interfering in the election.
➤ The next day, Flynn chatted with an unidentified senior member of Trump’s transition team about what they should tell Kislyak. Press reports Friday indicated that official was ex-Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland. During the call, they agreed they didn’t want Russia to “escalate the situation.”
➤ Flynn then called Kislyak back and told him this. After Russia announced on Dec. 30 that they wouldn’t retaliate, Kislyak called Flynn to tell him Russia made the decision in response to Flynn’s request. Flynn then called up that transition official, presumably McFarland, to relay the message.
➤ Fast forward to Jan. 24 when the FBI interviewed Flynn. He said he didn’t ask Kislyak to chill out about the sanctions, and that he had no recollection of the follow-up call. Flynn also lied about a Dec. 22 conversation with Kislyak about a U.N. security vote. Flynn reportedly did this at the request of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, also a senior adviser.
(For your reading pleasure, we at the National Law Journal compiled all the Flynn docs into one easy place. Check ‘em out here.)
It’s not what Flynn did, it’s what he knows. The big news here isn’t that Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators, a crime that, at most, could put him in prison for five years. There’s been reports for months that Flynn could possibly be guilty of more serious crimes, so the fact Mueller is charging him only with this seemingly-minor offense is telling. I think Asha Rangappa, a former special agent for the FBI, put it best in comments to the Just Security blog: “I think Flynn is giving up the goods, big time.”
So what are the goods? The closest we came to answering that question today is when ABC News reported that Flynn is prepared to testify Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians, originally to discuss fighting ISIS in Syria. As Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York tweeted, this raises a lot of questions to which we do not yet have any answers, like what exactly did Trump direct Flynn to request from Russians, before and after the campaign?
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→ Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney who teaches at the University of California-Los Angeles Law School, laid out his takeaways in the New York Times. Litman addresses this in his piece, writing that while it was bad for Flynn to lie, “conducting rogue American foreign policy is worse.” He continued: “Mr. Flynn’s lies are secondary to the demonstration that the Trump administration was actively undermining American foreign policy before it took office. This will most likely prove the most abiding scandalous fact of the Mueller investigation.”
→Really, this is just the beginning. Steven Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, told Talking Points Memo the real question now is “whether we’re going to start hearing stuff” from Flynn’s lawyers about what he’s telling Mueller. “The real story of today is that there’s a guarantee that there’s big news coming down the pike,” Vladeck said.
Meanwhile, the White House says this means nothing. White House lawyer Ty Cobb released a statement Friday that said “nothing about the guilty plea or the charges implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.” Time will tell, Mr. Cobb, time will tell.
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MORE FLYNNSTANT TAKES:
➤➤ Jim Comey had a pretty interesting tweet today. The former FBI Director, who testified to Congress that Trump asked him to let the Flynn “thing” go, quoted some scripture to the Twitterverse. CNN reports it’s not the first time Comey tweeted the passage. Hmm. Read up here.
➤➤ The Washington Post has an awesome, recently updated graphic that shows how members of the Trump team are connected to certain Russian interests. Admittedly, it makes my head spin, but it’s definitely worth your time today. Check it out here.
➤➤ The fact that Mueller went after Flynn specifically for lies related to Russian contacts with the incoming administration, as opposed to his unreported work lobbying on behalf of Turkey, puts Trump in a corner, writes Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman in Bloomberg View. Feldman thinks Mueller is keeping Russia-related charges in the spotlight to keep Trump from firing him. More here.
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IN OTHER TRUMP NEWS:
— Remember when there were two directors of the CFPB earlier this week? Feels like a lifetime ago. My college C. Ryan Barber reports companies are weighing different ways to take advantage of the crazy. Read up here.
— The firm behind the so-called Trump Dossier is back in court, and this fight could have major implications for law firms. More here.
— Trump’s DOJ just revised its FCPA guidance. Barber has the all the key deets here.
— There is some serious drama going on in the Senate over the process for confirming Trump’s judicial nominees, and it was on full display this week. More here from yours truly.
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Did you enjoy today's email? I want to hear from you at cschneier@alm.com. Check out other new briefings from my Law.com colleagues here.
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