Donald Trump just handed Michael Flynn a really good reason to cut a deal against him
Let’s say you’re Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. You’re about to get indicted on federal charges ranging from conspiracy against the United States to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and maybe even worse. You’re paying seven different attorneys to try to defend you against the morass of impending charges. You’re broke and begging the public for scraps. You’re tempted to cut a deal against Donald Trump just to make it all end – and Trump just picked the worst possible time to piss you off.
This week Donald Trump is finally rolling out a long promised fund to help his underlings with their legal expenses in the Trump-Russia scandal. Trump claims he’ll be funding it out of his own pocket, which no one believes, because he never funds anything out of his pocket. In fact the odds of this fund ever coming to fruition are small. But one person is already being categorically ruled out as a potential recipient.
That’s right, Donald Trump’s team is already preemptively announcing that Michael Flynn will not receive any funds to help with his legal costs, according to an on-air report from Rachel Maddow during her MNSBC show on Wednesday night. No reason is being given, but there are only a few possible explanations. One would be that Trump expects Flynn to simply fold up his defense, sit back and allow himself to be convicted, and then count on a pardon – and that pardon of an alleged co-conspirator may not hold up constitutionally anyway. The other explanation would be that Trump believes Flynn has already cut a deal against him, or is going to cut a deal against him.
Either way, if Michael Flynn wasn’t already planning to cut a deal, Donald Trump just handed him a really good reason to do it. Regardless of what happens to Flynn as far as legal charges, he’s already financially ruined – and now Trump is giving him the finger.
