67 years (May 1, 1955)Sidney Powell / Age
Durham, NCSidney Powell / Place of birth
University of North Carolina School of Law1978University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill1976Broughton Magnet High SchoolSidney Powell/Education
Flynn's former business associate Bijan Rafiekian was charged with illegally acting as an unregistered agent of Turkey. In 2019, a federal judge threw out the guilty verdicts against Rafiekian, citing insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction on either count.
Flynn was paid $530,000 by Alptekin for Flynn's lobbying work. Flynn only registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department later on March 8, 2017, for the work completed by November 2016. Flynn acknowledged his work may have benefited Turkey's government.
On July 4, 2020, Flynn pledged an oath to the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, and as Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in which he was defeated, Flynn suggested the president should suspend the Constitution, silence the press, and hold a new election under military authority.
Department of Defense to set up a military communication channel with Russia to protect American and Russian air forces from each other in Syria, and possibly cooperate to take on the Islamic State, reported The Daily Beast website in July 2017. The Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command rejected the idea, reported the website. The National Defense Authorization Act, from 2015, had banned the U.S. from cooperating in military matters with Russia unless the Secretary of Defense allowed an exception.
In a private e-mail that was leaked online, Colin Powell said he had heard in the DIA (apparently from later DIA director Vincent R. Stewart) that Flynn was fired because he was "abusive with staff, didn't listen, worked against policy, bad management, etc." According to The New York Times, Flynn exhibited a loose relationship with the truth, leading his subordinates to refer to Flynn's repeated dubious assertions as "Flynn facts".
Later, in December 2017, President Trump said he "had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI", noting that Flynn had "pled guilty to those lies". Also in December 2017, Vice President Pence said that by the time Flynn departed the Trump administration, "I knew that he lied to me.".
On January 7, 2020, prosecutors presented a sentencing memo calling for Flynn to be sentenced to a term of up to six months. One week later, Flynn's lawyers filed a motion seeking permission to withdraw his guilty plea "because of the government's bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement".
The new evidence came from U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen, whom Attorney General William Barr named in January to review the prosecution. The Flynn prosecution led by special counsel Robert Mueller was under legal order to turn over any exculpatory, or Brady, material to Ms. Powell.
Unknown to Flynn, the FBI suspected him of violating the 1799 Logan Act in a phone call with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Flynn ultimately pleaded guilty to lying to agents when he denied discussing new U.S. sanctions from the Obama White House and how Russian should respond.
The Flynn prosecution led by special counsel Robert Mueller was under legal order to turn over any exculpatory, or Brady, material to Ms. Powell. She had filed a series of motions listing denied Brady evidence.