In March, I blogged about a report in The Wall Street Journal, in which former CIA Director James Moosley claimed he attended a meeting with former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Turkish Foreign Ministers to discuss removing Fehtullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania. This meeting happened when Flynn worked on Trump’s presidential transition team.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Gulen for numerous “coups” that have taken place.
Now that alleged plan between Flynn and the Turks has come under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Under the alleged proposal, Mr. Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., were to be paid as much as $15 million for delivering Fethullah Gulen to the Turkish government, according to people with knowledge of discussions Mr. Flynn had with Turkish representatives. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has pressed the U.S. to extradite him, views the cleric as a political enemy.Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have asked at least four individuals about a meeting in mid-December at the ‘21’ Club in New York City, where Mr. Flynn and representatives of the Turkish government discussed removing Mr. Gulen, according to people with knowledge of the FBI’s inquiries. The discussions allegedly involved the possibility of transporting Mr. Gulen on a private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali, according to one of the people who has spoken to the FBI.
Mueller is interested if Flynn “was pursuing potentially illegal means to forcibly deal with Mr. Gulen.” NBC News pointed out that “any deal in which a government official would be bribed to secretly act on behalf of a foreign government could potentially constitute multiple federal crimes.”
Flynn acknowledged in March that he worked as a foreign agent for the firm Inovo, owned by Turkish-American businessman Ekim Alptekin, who has links to the Turkish government. He did not register as a foreign agent until that month, though.
Mueller’s main objective in his investigation is collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump during the presidential campaign. However, he has the ability to investigate any crimes that pop up during the investigation. It has already led to the indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his protege Rick Gates.
Last week, Mueller said that he has enough evidence to charge Flynn and his son.
Flynn resigned in February after it became known “that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.”
Flynn is already “facing military, congressional and criminal investigations into allegations that he improperly concealed his financial ties to Turkey and Russia, and into whether the ties played any role in his decisions as the president’s adviser.” The U.S. Attorney’s offices for the Eastern District of Virginia sent subpoenas to Flynn’s associates “ordering that information be handed over concerning his Turkey-related activities as part of a criminal investigation.”
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