
Special Counsel Robert Mueller
WASHINGTON – After many months, Special Counsel Robert Mueller doesn't appear to have evidence that shows President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in an effort to influence the 2016 election.
Nonetheless, critics of the president, in their desire to impeach him, are gloating amid reports that the president's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, will no longer communicate with the White House legal team.
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Last week, lawyers representing Flynn informed the White House lawyers of their decision, according to the New York Times.
The termination of the information-sharing agreement, the Times reports, indicates Flynn is likely cooperating with Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election in an attempt to negotiate a more favorable deal for himself.
TRENDING: Trump declassifies Russia-investigation documents
Flynn would be able give prosecutors insight into how Trump's team conducted itself during the campaign and the early days of the administration.
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Trump's attorneys have been preparing for Flynn to be indicted, the Times reported, citing four anonymous sources.
"The four people briefed on the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly," the Times noted.
Another unnamed source familiar with the matter told CNN that Flynn's legal team's decision to end communication with the White House legal team is a signal Flynn is preparing to plead guilty in Mueller's investigation.
The anti-Trump crowd members are relishing the prospect of Flynn "flipping" on Trump, celebrating the New York Times' report on social media.
Flynn has flipped, @realDonaldTrump. Forget wasting our money playing golf. Get ready to be impeached (quickly):https://t.co/q1yJFDE9Zp pic.twitter.com/ds3yLJXJ3w
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— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 24, 2017
The best part about Flynn cooperating with Mueller is the fact he can only throw two people under the bus to strike a deal: Pence & Trump. And he has the goods on both.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 24, 2017
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.@realDonaldTrump-You must be terrified about what Flynn is telling Mueller’s team. He sold out his country to Russia & Turkey & so he’s definitely selling you out. Talk all the crap you want. And keep smirking like you got away with it. We both know you’re headed to prison.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 24, 2017
Seeing Michael Flynn trending at 6 AM on Black Friday pic.twitter.com/5JApjnfdRA
— Heather Fortney (@_WIhf_) November 24, 2017
Good news for Trump. He can retire soon. Michael Flynn May Be Cooperating With Mueller's: | HuffPost https://t.co/aFQeK6lsi3 #SmartNews
— Héctor Mozote (@HectorMozote) November 24, 2017
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1/ The most delicious moment in the coming days? When the thousands and thousands of pro-Trump MAGA accounts (bots and real) who thought Mike Flynn was...
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 24, 2017
2/ ...an American hero turn on him. The Orwellian level of unpersonhood Flynn will achieve will be epic. "He was against Trump ALL ALONG." "Flynn was DEEP STATE..." "TIED TO SOROS..."
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 24, 2017
3/ None of the MAGA types will even recognize the irony of their instant flip from loving Flynn to hating him.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 24, 2017
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Donny...Michael Flynn gonna roll on ya...and then...no more tweets about the NFL...or anything for that matter...
— Jody DelBrocco (@JodyDelBrocco) November 24, 2017
Michael Flynn is FLIPPING.
Donald Trump is SPINNING.
Robert Mueller is WINNING.— PROUD RESISTER (@ProudResister) November 24, 2017
Yet, the move by Flynn's legal team "is not entirely unexpected" nor does it mean the retired Army lieutenant general is conspiring against the president, says Jay Sekulow, the president of the American Center for Law and Justice and a member of Trump's legal team.
"No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about General Flynn cooperating against the president," Sekulow told CNN.
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Flynn resigned as national security adviser in February after admitting he "inadvertently" provided Vice President Mike Pence incomplete information about his communication with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn initially told investigators that he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak during a December call, but when later pressed by FBI agents, he changed his answer, claiming he didn't remember.
The day after Flynn's resignation, Trump requested that former FBI Director James Comey end the bureau's investigation into Flynn's meeting with Kislyak, Comey claimed to Congress in June before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
"I hope you can let this go," Comey claimed Trump told him.
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in May. Days later, Comey turned over the government memorandum he had created detailing his one-on-one conversation with the president about Flynn's investigation to the New York Times. The former FBI director admitted in his June testimony before Congress that he leaked the memo to the press through an intermediary.
The Wall Street Journal reported in August that Mueller is investigating whether Flynn secretly coordinated with Russia to obtain any of the 33,000 emails Clinton destroyed after it was revealed she had used an unauthorized private email server while in the State Department.
Mueller is also investigating an alleged plot involving Flynn's efforts to return a Muslim cleric living in the United States to Turkey.
Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., allegedly were slated to get as much as $15 million to kidnap a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, and hand him over to the Turkish government.
Turkish officials accuse Gulen of being a terrorist and trying to foment a failed coup attempt in Turkey.
Flynn's attorney's disputed the report.
"But today's news cycle has brought allegations about General Flynn, ranging from kidnapping to bribery, that are so outrageous and prejudicial that we are making an exception to our usual rule: they are false," Flynn's lawyers, Robert Kelner, Stephen Anthony and Brian Smith, said in a statement.
Former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted by Mueller's grand jury in October on charges including money laundering and conspiracy against the United States relating to their undisclosed foreign lobbying for Ukraine. Both have pleaded not guilty.