Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.
Flynn, who has been cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is willing to testify that, as a candidate, Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians, ABC News reports.
In an attempt to distance the Trump administration from the former national security adviser, White House lawyer Ty Cobb called Flynn “a former Obama administration official” in a statement Friday morning. “The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year,” Cobb wrote. “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
