Mike Flynn has been cited for $450,000 in illegal foreign payments from Turkey and Russia.
The Backstory On Mike Flynn
From Politico on May 8, 2017:
Former President Barack Obama warned then-President-elect Donald Trump about Michael Flynn during their Oval Office meeting two days after the election, current and former administration officials confirmed.
The Obama administration fired Flynn from his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (!) and even though the Politico article only cites Flynn’s “problematic behavior” and erratic ideas, one can now look back and see that Obama surely knew that the military’s top spy was taking payments from two rival countries, Russia and Turkey, and would continue to do so if Trump hired Flynn.
The Pentagon Cites Flynn For Taking Illegal Foreign Payments
Today, the Pentagon announced that it is citing Flynn for accepting $450,000 in unreported payments and wants that money back. It is stunning that Flynn has avoided criminal charges. From the Washington Post:
Michael Flynn, the retired Army general and onetime adviser to President Donald Trump, was cited by the Defense Department inspector general for failing to disclose lucrative speaking engagements and other business arrangements with foreign entities, prompting the U.S. government to pursue tens of thousands of dollars in penalties against him, according to documents.
Investigators determined that Flynn received nearly $450,000 from Turkish and Russian interests in 2015, including for an appearance in Moscow alongside President Vladimir Putin, but found no records that he had sought government approval beforehand. Their findings are detailed in a January 2021 memo to the Army released through the Freedom of Information Act on Thursday.
That is no two-bit spy, a half-million-dollar payment (rounding up) between two countries with corrupt leaders who occasionally cooperated? It is very hard to wrap one’s head around how a person within the DoD just shows up at Putin’s side at a dinner without anything filed, anywhere. His contempt for Obama must have been a near sickness because it certainly overrode any love for his country. This was 2015, Putin had already invaded the Crimea, been kicked out of what was the G-8, and sanctioned by the Western world. Any military officer would surely want presidential approval, one could never get the video back
Obama wouldn’t have just told Trump, “Don’t hire him.” Obama would’ve provided at least a partial explanation, payments from Russian and Turkish sources. Interesting that, not only did Trump hire Flynn, but made Flynn the American National Security Advisor. One could speculate for days on Trump’s motives, and recall Trump telling Comey to go easy on Flynn, who was such a good guy.
Regardless, it is also interesting that it took the Defense Department until 2022, under the Biden administration, to cite Flynn and release the jaw-dropping figure. It is stunning that after all this time, Flynn hasn’t been court-martialed and stripped of his retirement package, if not jailed.
Perhaps this marks the beginning of that needed effort.
Jason Miciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, while also studying scientific philosophy, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.