Special Counsel to Team Trump: we want your Michael Flynn documents now!
And Trump just went away on a 17-day vacay. Tonight’s NY Times scoop is likely to throw off his golf game.
Investigators working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, recently asked the White House for documents related to former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, and have questioned witnesses about whether he was secretly paid by the Turkish government during the final months of the presidential campaign, according to people close to the investigation.
Though not a formal subpoena, the document request is the first known instance of Mr. Mueller’s team asking the White House to hand over records.
In interviews with potential witnesses in recent weeks, prosecutors and F.B.I. agents have spent hours poring over the details of Mr. Flynn’s business dealings with a Turkish-American businessman who worked last year with Mr. Flynn and his consulting business, the Flynn Intel Group.
The company was paid $530,000 to run a campaign to discredit an opponent of the Turkish government who has been accused of orchestrating last year’s failed coup in the country.
That person is Fethullah Gulen, who is in exile in Pennsylvania. More about that matter can be found here.
The NY Times continues:
Investigators want to know if the Turkish government was behind those payments — and if the Flynn Intel Group made kickbacks to the businessman, Ekim Alptekin, for helping conceal the source of the money. …
Mr. Flynn declined to comment. Ty Cobb, special counsel to Mr. Trump, said, “We’ve said before we’re collaborating with the special counsel on an ongoing basis.”
The breaking story follows a report that Flynn revealed he held an undisclosed paid advisory role with SCL, a firm related to controversial data analysis company Cambridge Analytica that aided the Trump campaign.
There is wide speculation that Flynn may well be cooperating with Mueller as part of a plea deal.
