Michael Flynn tried to pay fellow Donald Trump adviser to commit crime on U.S. soil on Turkey’s behalf
Michael Flynn recently admitted to having been a paid foreign agent of Turkey while he was a Donald Trump campaign adviser, and it’s since come to light that both Trump and Mike Pence knew about it when they made him the White House National Security Adviser. But according to the Wall Street Journal, a new claim from a former Trump campaign adviser paints an even darker picture of Flynn which involved conspiring with Turkey to carry out crimes on United States soil.
Long-retired former CIA Director James Woolsey was an adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign. He eventually quit during the transition period, diplomatically suggesting that his role had run its course. But he’s now publicly disclosing something which may have been a factor. Last summer Michael Flynn brought Woolsey along to a meeting with representatives from the Turkish government, where they discussed theoretical plans for abducting Turkish dissident Fethullah Gulen from his home in Pennsylvania and shipping him back to Turkey. During the same meeting, Flynn tried to hire Woolsey as a consultant to his firm, in the name of furthering this plot against Gulen.
Woolsey now says he was taken aback by what he overheard at the meeting, and he suspected that even the discussion about abducting Gulen was a crime. So he refused Flynn’s money, and instead he reported the meeting to the federal government (source: Wall Street Journal). Presumably, Woolsey was not aware at the time that Flynn was being paid half a million dollars by Turkey, and that any money he would have received from Flynn would likely have come from Turkey as well.
Congress notified the Trump team during the transition that Michael Flynn was on Turkey’s payroll. Trump and Pence stood by him until his Russia ties leaked publicly in February, at which point he was nudged out; Trump and Pence then went on to lie about not having known. Notably, James Woolsey resigned from the Trump transition team a few weeks after the team learned Flynn was on the take. It’s unclear why Woolsey is choosing to go public now. Contribute to Palmer Report
