Trump’s ex-security adviser Michael Flynn admits lying to FBI about Russian contacts

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents and is providing cooperation that promises to take Special Counsel Robert Mueller deep into Donald Trump’s administration.

Speaking in court as part of his plea agreement, Flynn, 58, said Trump’s team asked him to make contact with Russians and that he told the incoming administration what he was doing. Flynn called a senior official from the transition team for guidance before talking to the Russia’s ambassador to the US, and then reported back to the transition team after the call.

The plea is a major step for Mueller’s quickly advancing investigation. Mueller has already charged Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy over their earlier business activities, as well as a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser who pursued Russia’s help during last year’s election. Papadopoulos is cooperating with the probe.

Flynn agreed to cooperate as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty in a Washington court on Friday to a single charge – that Flynn lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents about two conversations with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.

Flynn told the agents that he did not ask Kislyak on December 29 to moderate Russia’s response to US sanctions imposed by the Obama administration that day – a statement he now admits is a lie. He also lied by claiming not to recall the ambassador saying Russia had decided to do just that.