On Mike Flynn’s Previously Undisclosed Interactions with Ekim Aptekin
In Friday’s pre-trial hearing for former Mike Flynn partner Bijan Kian, Kian’s attorneys revealed something prosecutors had told them in discovery: that Flynn had more ties with Alptekin than has been made public.
Prosecutors wrote to lawyers for Flynn’s ex-lobbying partner Bijan Kian that the US government was “in possession of multiple, independent pieces of information relating to the Turkish government’s efforts to influence United States policy on Turkey and Fethullah Gulen, including information relating to communications, interactions, and a relationship between Ekim Alptekin and Michael Flynn, and Ekim Alptekin’s engagement of Michael Flynn because of Michael Flynn’s relationship with an ongoing presidential campaign, without any reference to the defendant of FIG.”
Flynn’s new firebreather lawyer Sidney Powell thinks this is all about him, and as such suggests this is a last minute attack on Flynn because he reneged on a key part of his plea allocution.
Kian’s attorney Mark MacDougall read the statement at a court hearing Friday morning. He implied that the newly revealed information about Flynn — which was not part of his admitted crimes in his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller — may be classified.
Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell responded to the new accusation Friday, saying, “We have no idea what the government is talking about. It smacks of desperation.”
Admittedly, having blown up his plea deal, she now has to worry about anything that would provide cause to change the government stance on Flynn’s sentencing. And she’s probably — though not definitely — correct that this is something the government had in hand when they supported probation for Flynn. I do keep thinking of the redaction in the Mueller Report — a footnote that must explain the outcome of the counterintelligence investigation into Flynn — signaling an ongoing investigation.
Though I still think that likely relates to the investigation into Flynn’s Russian ties, not his Turkish ones.
That said, Powell’s concerns have to go beyond whether this is new information. The revelation that the government has proof that Alptekin’s efforts to influence Flynn go beyond the Flynn Intelligence Group consulting contract provide key background information to some of the files Powell released in an already unpersuasive effort to claim Flynn was fully forthcoming with his former, competent attorney, Rob Kelner, when they filed Flynn’s FARA submission in 2017. Of particular note, in the notes of the last interview recorded before the filing itself, Flynn told Kelner that he didn’t remember key parts of the relationship with Alptekin — neither the “consulting” agreement itself (which was really a kickback scheme) nor any side conversations about it.
It may well be that Flynn forgot those details, but if there are independent communications between Flynn and Alptekin, his claim to Kelner that Bijan was conducting all discussions with Alptekin seems demonstrably false.
The very last line of the first interview between Covington and Flynn, on January 6, 2017, shows him claiming he spoke with Alptekin “a handful of times.”
More interestingly, in that interview and elsewhere, Flynn downplays his role in the FIG consulting because he was on the campaign trail, away from Washington.
From the standpoint of claiming you weren’t lobbying, noting you were on the campaign with Trump might help. But if the point of all this, for Turkey, was to pay Flynn a half million dollars to (as his firebreather attorney claims) write an op-ed precisely to ensure they had access to someone who was spending all his time with Trump, then it actually hurts him.
The government claims that when Flynn downplayed the involvement of Turkey in his FARA filing, he did it knowingly and intentionally. If these notes — released by his own firebreather defense attorney — show him downplaying the extent of his relationship with Alptekin, that’s going to seriously undermine that claim.
Also may be at least part of what set Emmet Sullivan off. Powell has to be losing sleep over that. And if she is not, she is an even bigger idiot than she appears.
“at least part”
Yup.
As a non-lawyer, my take is that Sullivan will be even angrier than he was before when this all gets into the courtroom. His new team of lawyers wasn’t in the courtroom for the last Sullivan hearing, and I don’t think they fully grasp how unbelievably pissed off this judge is. And since Flynn’s new team seems to be trying to blame at least some of his law-breaking on his old team, the old team doesn’t have much incentive to help the new team with its defense. They’re probably going to meet whatever legal requirements there are with respect to handing things over to the new team, but they aren’t going to do them any favors. I have no idea how things work in the legal world, but I would assume that when there’s an amicable change in legal teams, the old team would be willing to do things like proofread new legal briefs, especially if they can bill for it. Since that didn’t happen here the old team isn’t saying, “Don’t try to use this particular legal argument with this judge.” Or “This statement conflicts with something Flynn said two years ago, and the prosecutors are going to hammer you for it.” They’re just going to kick back and see if the new team faceplants in the courtroom. If they do (or maybe even if they don’t), Flynn gets a jail sentence, and his son’s in legal jeopardy.
Think that is exactly right. And Sullivan saw the work of Kelner and the old team up close for an extended period of time. He can see the difference and is certainly not operating in a vacuum. If a pardon is not forthcoming, this has been some serious malpractice by Powell.
I’m not as convinced as everyone else seems to be about any pardons. Everyone seems to think it’s 100% likely. I think it’s probably only about 60% likely. Trump doesn’t pay any of his bills, and Manafort and Flynn have both destroyed their credibility as witnesses, so unless they can bring something new to the table with their testimony, they’re pretty much disposable.
Agree. And Sullivan may make it optically horrible for Trump to pardon him. But Marcy is right, that is totally what Powell is trying to gin up.
Also, there are legitimate political reasons for Trump to delay pardons until after the election, at which point he may decide it’s too much bother and he’d rather focus on his latest grift.
He’s mercurial enough to pardon on a whim, of course, but I agree it’s not a sure thing.
But also Trump’s pardons tend to be surprise whims (so far), people you wouldn’t expect him to pardon or people you completely forgot about.
That doesn’t quite apply to Flynn.
Or a whimful pardon via Barr?
https://m.huffpost.com/
That’s a link to the main page and not the individual post to which you want to point. (Some folks won’t be able to see either of them because HuffPo uses some bullshit advertising which obstructs access to content if they have ad blockers in place.) I suggest finding a link directly to the article or sharing a screen shot of the content you want to share. Thanks.
I wouldn’t count on Trump for anything but perhaps this is an attempt by Flynn to force his hand. It’s not like Flynn has always demonstrated good judgment.
No, I don’t think this is Flynn trying to force Trump’s hand for a pardon. This is Flynn believing everything he’s reading and hearing about from the conservative bastions of the internet about the possibility that IG Horowitz is going to slam the Trump-Russia investigation and, magically, other events — like him being ??? — will then fall into place. Sidney Powell is one of those true believers who thinks the Trump-Russia investigation is going to go up in smoke thanks to political bias. Now are there strategic reasons why she’s focused her efforts on Flynn’s case? I think so. Maybe we’ll know more after IG has finished his investigation if there’s nothing in the IG report for Powell to use as a springboard and she’s left strategically high and dry. It’s not good news for Powell though the IG’s interview team thought Christopher Steele credible and, upon consultation w/IG Horowitz, the investigation has been extended.
Questions for @bmaz and the other lawyers:
1. Does a defendant’s co-operation get considered as part of the pre-sentencing report, or does that come later in the whole sentencing process via a brief from the prosecution? (In other words, will they have to redo the pre-sentencing report?)
2. What are the odds of a superceding indictment being filed prior to the sentencing here?
3. It seems like rich white men get a few weeks to get their affairs in order before they have to start their prison sentences. But Flynn has a pissed off judge who has arguably already given Flynn six months to get his affairs in order. If he gets sentenced to prison, is there a chance that he’ll be hauled off immediately, or does he continue to be treated like any other rich white man?
1) Both
2) I don’t know, but they are higher than they were not long ago.
3) Eh, it is not just rich white men, it is something often granted to non-violent defendants, though not always. In state court, the defendant presumptively gets taken into custody on the spot of a prison sentence. If the situation is not exacerbated you can usually get a self surrender date in federal court.
Turkey’s work to infiltrate Trump would have been a perfect hook for an active opposition party to undercut his expected campaign trail bragging about his foreign policy chops. Turkey’s purchase of the Russian missile system would add a ton of evidence to the case. Turkey’s opressive regime would be a great example of what theocratic oligarchies are like, and how quickly they turn on average people and America.
But why bother trying to develop a unified theory of GOP disaster when you can sit quietly hoping he won’t attack you on immigration?
Flynn’s influence peddling is all about Flynn’s own grasp of the geopolitical ins and outs. However much Flynn pictured himself as a mover and shaker in his post-U.S. army international consultant role, Flynn is/was on the tail end of the Russian-Turkish meetings of the minds. Flynn may feel he had the potential to move things in the strategic direction he desired but the big movers in the mix were and always will be Turkey and Russia. Trump would have been blindsided or would willingly concede Turkish and Russian machinations behind the scenes because Trump would tolerate for his own sake/purposes the subjects over which Erdogan and Putin are privately dealing: the triad of Islamism, Kurdish independence and Russian and Turkish territorial integrity.
At this point I feel like Flynn deserves having the book thrown at him. Whatever good he did is being buried by his foreign business ties and the lies he told about them.
As I see it, Flynn is either off his meds or is still under some kind of foreign influence, (probably blackmail.) You’d have to be nuts to hire Sidney Powell when you had a sweet plea deal, particularly in Judge Sullivan’s court, or you’d have to have someone pulling your strings. At this point, would anyone trust Trump to actually follow-through on a pardon? – Which trust in Trump might be part of the crazy!
In light of the current furor over how the Epstein case was (mis)handled years ago by the President’s former Labor Secretary, I would think the last thing that Trump would want to be seen to be doing now is giving a pardon to someone who Judge Sullivan thinks sold out his country. I’m sure General Flynn will understand that the President still has warm feelings towards him, that it’s nothing personal, it’s just business.
Rationality and Trump rarely go hand in glove.
But if they did, it would be a wee wittle hand in a wee wittle glove!
Is there a way to correspond directly via e-mail with Marcy Wheeler?
Please see the “Contact” tab at the top of this blog.
My gut feeling is Judge Sullivan’s famous explosion in court a few months ago was all about something Flynn and Russia were up to. Lying about a Turkish kickback scheme doesn’t seem potent enough to have ignited this. If that’s the case Flynn may well be under foreign influence and blowing up his case to cover tracks. Doesn’t explain why Flynn didn’t just take the sentence the first time, but Sullivan’s performance itself may have forced their hand into evasive action to avoid the potential of revealing the real underlying issue. Does that make any sense?
Oh, I do not know that that is true at all. It sure appeared to me to be something far more than just the base Russian facts.
Even if the those facts center on liasson with Russians/cutouts working against the US election? Redacted facts – that could make a Judge explode.
To my eye, yes, it was more than the commonly understood Russian stuff.
Must have been. It’s what’s been bubbling behind the scenes the whole time. Dems need to get stuff on the record – maybe a revealing Mueller testimony coupled with a blown Flynn court gambit will finally set things rolling with some conviction.
Must have been. It’s what’s been bubbling behind the scenes the whole time. Dems need to get stuff on the record – maybe a revealing Mueller testimony coupled with a blown Flynn court gambit will finally get things rolling with conviction.
War profiteering, maybe?
I might be confused but wasn’t Alptekin also the guy that volunteered to interview with Muller and went in and just made shit up?
Also the Trump admin halted a pentagon briefing Friday regarding sanctions on Turkey.
Friday was also the day Turkey got its first shipment of missiles from Russia.
Flynn could have been In place to fix up our monster up with the other two monsters, Eredowan and Putin. Or to kidnap Gulen, or to facilitate an arms sale. It appears the sky is the limit, no need to restrict your imagination to a half million for using your position in the campaign to screw your own country on behalf of another.
Just a hypothesis, maybe it is the nuclear technology deal with the Saudis? I have a vague recollection that Flynn was mentioned in a letter Cummings sent to the White House (I’m not 100% that’s who it was sent to) requesting docs with whistle blower accounts about Trump Admin people trying to jam through a deal to sell nuclear power tech w/out following the rules/laws in place that regulate nuclear things. I think that would account for Sullivan’s anger level
He was involved so maybe that’s it? Here a link to the oversight committee’s report from Feb 2019
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Trump%20Saudi%20Nuclear%20Report%20-%202-19-2019.pdf
That Oversight report is interesting and disturbing. Not just Flynn who sold his country out. It shows an administration eager to trample laws and national interests to make gobs of money.
My blood pressure just went up 10 notches and I’m only on page 6 of 24. Definitely profiteering! And a bevy of names involved. No wonder Sullivan threw a fit.
Jee-zus.
I caught Kushner and the Saudi deal whenever that was the scandal de jour.
How did I miss Flynn and Tom Barrack’s name in all this?
What if Russia was just a cover for equally disturbing crimes during this campaign and inauguration?
Like leaving wires hanging out of an electrical outlet for an inspector to find so he doesn’t feel obligated to dig any deeper for violations.
Exaggerating of course but god help us if this investigation or the one into inaugural finances has been shut down by Barr, OR Mueller was simply referring to Flynn’s help busting his old business partner and not this when his team was gushing on behalf of Flynn at his sentencing hearings
Trump is running amok w/his Chief Executive powers in hopes of solidifying his Saudi commercial ties. Between Trump and Kushner selecting the new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and tolerating his family coup, to the meetings in the Seychelles Islands Trump held, to this nuclear technology transfer, Trump has demonstrated he’s not operating as POTUS in the best interests of the U.S. I don’t see how Trump can do this legally. The Republicans are beyond bizarre by failing their oversight role. The craziness of this administration is more terrifying w/every new story about Trump’s self-aggrandizing via the office of the presidency and his arrogant ineptitude regarding foreign policy.
tx, Self Absorbed. One v scary House oversight report. Kush, Flynn and Barrack no worries about destabilizing the world, and rather hellbent on selling out the country.
I suspect they didn’t ever see it as “selling out their country” – it was just some business where they could make a nice amount of money for themselves.
I am sure there is software that has replaced the old wallboard and yarn investigators used to use, but when it comes to Tom Barrack, it’s hard to imagine a screen that could to do justice to the visual of just how many different colors of yarn in the web include this guys picture.
It would probably look like a particularly loud plaid woven by a spider on hallucinogens.
Nuclear power likely. If you look at what Prince and Flynn and some of the others were up to in the Middle East, it has to do with the US policy around nuclear technology export and engineering projects in several countries in the region. Being paid by Turkey under the table to be an advocate for such things while National Security Advisor to the US President seems like it is somewhat close to treasonous behavior pretty much. That and arranging to have someone who is in the USG’s protection kidnapped also probably stick in Sullivan’s craw…
Hey, timbo, good to see you again. Hope you are doing well.
I’m hanging in there.
Kudos on your “We have no collusions” ditty btw—comments weren’t working on that earlier article so…
Yes, there is so much that sucks the wind out of our sails. It can be overwhelming. But something that swells my heart with pride is The Squad. They honor democracy in a way that makes me so glad to be here. I have no children. But I would love to have had daughters like them. They make the world a much better place!
I feel like the Turkey and Russia influence peddling are related. Flynn needed Turkey to be on board with something in order to cement the Trump/UAE/Saudi Arabia/Russia/Israel Grand bargain. The agreement seems to have come quite late in the game… maybe days before the election. I just go back to Kian’s cryptic comment a few days before the op-ed was published, “The arrow has already left the bow!”
Kinda a big comment for just publishing an op-ed. I feel like the article was a coded message assuring Turkey of some deal in order to get help with something else important to the Grand bargain? Maybe something in relation to Iran with all that apple tree talk?
Course just a WAG. Feel free to castigate me appropriately.
Wait a sec:
“The government claims that when Flynn downplayed the involvement of Turkey in his FARA filing, he did it knowingly and intentionally. If these notes — released by his own firebreather defense attorney — show him downplaying the extent of his relationship with Alptekin, that’s going to seriously undermine that claim.”
Undermine the government’s claim? How? Wouldn’t it strengthen that claim?
Donald Trump is trying his best to look like a rougher, tougher version of Ronald Reagan, the President other people named so many things after. But Trump is not as bright, as patient, or as good an actor as the modestly talented Reagan.
He does have cruelty instead of a simplistic belief, sold with the assurance of George Gipp playing ball for Knute Rockne. He is unwilling to take advice, especially when it’s good. He refuses to change course, heedless of the plunging barometer.
Reagan also had better lines. As a 1960s California conservative, he joined other governors, who set up angry, Vietnam-era students as campaign pinatas. Thinking of a now long gone Berkeley radicalism, Reagan’s speech writers gave him this: “A hippy is someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane, and smells like Cheetah.” For a middle America raised on Saturday morning reruns of Tarzan and Jungle Jim, that was a zinger.
The tongue-tied Trump uses his campaign bus instead. He’s about to use it on billionaire sleepwalker Wilbur Ross, even though he hasn’t cleaned the wheels since using it to run over Alex Acosta.
The citizenship question on the Census came from the angry zealots in the White House. But Ross’s Commerce Dept was responsible for making it happen. It didn’t. Trump lost at the Supremes and even Billy Barr couldn’t find a workaround. To distract from Trump’s embarrassment, Ross will soon join Acosta under the well-worn wheels of the Trump tour bus.
By my understanding, the citizenship question may have been pushed by Miller in the White House, but it really did come from Hofeller, through the Federalist Society, to Miller. Miller is not that smart on his own.
As I read that, it is the Trump administration that adopted the recommendation from Hofeller, an outside adviser, and pushed it as an administration priority. One of many, I should think, which included Kris Kobach’s failed attempts to establish a factual basis for voter suppression.
That Ross, as the Cabinet member and Secretary of the department responsible for implementing the Census, adopted and took the lead in implementing it, while important, seems secondary.
Exactly. Ross is a malignant stooge, but he did not enter the administration to do this. He may not have had any better purpose or goals, but this wasn’t at the top of his list.
the scary part of all of this, for me, is that idiots believe their own bullshit. The frothy right writes these dumb deep state articles and flynn, who is about as deep as it gets, believes it?
A few years ago (jeez, it’s been 22), there was some dumb flying saucer book* by a former NatSec guy who claimed we got all this technology from the Roswell, New Mexico crash… and he was blathering on in some interview about time travel. It was a little concerning.
This Flynn stuff is scarier. Remember how the Bush people invaded Iraq convinced they’d find evidence of WMDs? This Flynn stuff is scarier.
*Corso, Philip J. The Day After Roswell. New York: Pocket Books, 1997.
The most disconcerting thing for me is the extraordinary range of the disinformation that’s being produced and what events bear the fingerprints of the Russian GRU. It’s a bizarre mix of outright entertainment (UFO stories) combined w/dangerously inflammatory Deep State stories about things such as the Jade Helm 15 military exercise in Texas.
Gen. Flynn was likely always a believer in certain aspects of the Deep State based on his own statements. It’s not surprising he would turn to Deep State conspiracy theories as being perhaps a key to his salvation given the legal circumstances in which he finds himself. And it’s even less surprising there’s a highly conservative lawyer like Sidney Powell who seemingly intends to try to make her reputation by proving the existence and the flaws in the Deep State provided a misleading inquiry into Trump that eventually produced the Mueller report. Sidney Powell is seemingly willing to act as the Republican canary lawyer but she’s willing to ignore whatever noxious gases are emanating from her party. It’s going to be fascinating to watch individuals like Barr and Powell when the Inspector General’s report is released. I’m really curious if Barr is going to dare attempt to twist the IG’s report the same way he twisted the Mueller report. Certainly, IG Horowitz saw how deadly the rebuttal was issued by Mueller to Barr so he’s got that recent example to buck him up. IG Horowitz would also be aware of just how much Trump is relying on his report to once again try to play his “I’m exonerated” card. Given the extreme sensitivity and relevance of Horowitz’s investigation to the next steps by Congress against Trump, I’m hoping Horowitz knows how to protect his report.
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/02/403865824/texas-governor-deploys-state-guard-to-stave-off-obama-takeover
https://taskandpurpose.com/jade-helm-conspiracy-russian-bots
It seems that Trump’s racist attacks on the Squad of progressive women House members of color is or has expanded into a major plank of Trump’s 2020 campaign platform. It is a distraction from and demonstration of his cruelty and destructiveness.
I note that most Republicans remained silent about the president’s attacks. But a growing number feel emboldened to adopt and spread the president’s racist attacks. They are labeling themselves as The True ‘mericans.
They are resurrecting the culture war arguments of the 1960s, the anti-Civil Rights arguments of the 1950s, and the attacks on non-conformity by such men as Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover that preceded them.
In their rhetoric, women, people of color, the left, Democrats generally become radical, leftist, socialist, communist. All words Trump used today. He means any word that retains a culturally negative meaning to Americans who think that J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, and Nathan Bedford Forrest were great guys, and that women should stay barefoot and in the kitchen.
Trump has given the Democrats the chance to unite themselves. They better take it. If they don’t, the next stop for a desperate flailing president will be a virtual Reichstag fire. The Squad’s presser this afternoon was a great step in the right direction.
Not just unite democrats but encourage every TRUE A-Merican to take a stand against this bull-shit.
If your lawmaker is a coward, or their words and actions continue to insult your core values, even if you are one of those that “hates politics” it is your CIVIC DUTY to stop making excuses and speak up now.
Each one of us has a voice and a vote and if you want to put the fear of god into a shameless lawmaker (of any party) use your voice and clearly explain that if they continue to speak and act (or not act) in ways that do not reflect your values you will find a candidate that does.
Pelosi: trump is a racist, but I still want to work with him
https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1150408693021908992
I reject @realDonaldTrump’s xenophobic comments meant to divide our nation. Rather than attack Members of Congress, he should work with us for humane immigration policy that reflects American values. Stop the raids – #FamiliesBelongTogether!
Trump’s attack on the Squad was a personal attack on four uppity women of color. He attacked them as members of Congress, making his an attack on Congress, too.
Trump attacked four professional women because he disdains all women, except briefly the tall blonds who give him pleasure. He attacked them because they have standing to investigate and criticize his behavior. He knows that when he leaves office, he will be as naked as a jay bird. Better, for him, not to leave then.
Trump attacked the idea of Congress. No room in his America for organizing, competing for resources, setting priorities, and making policy. That’s man’s work. In fact, it is exclusively Donald Trump’s work. If you do it, leave the country.
In Trump’s view, the courts should bless him, Congress should applaud and give him money. The public should attend his mass rallies, and enjoy his bread and burgers. They should go about their business, meek, ignorant, and confident that when the Praetorians knock on their doors in dead of night, it is because they are there to keep them safe.
The Democrats have an enormous opportunity to spell out how they oppose this man, how they are different, and what they would do instead. If the leadership would just get off their quiet comfy seats and try.
“…except briefly the tall blonds who give him pleasure.”
Uh, no, unless you are expecting the word ‘briefly’ to carry a lot of the burden. Look at the 22 women who have credibly accused him of sexual assault; most are blondes. He attacks all women, reserving physical assault for those he finds sexually attractive. If a partner with whom he’s had a consensual relationship ‘disrespects’ him, he will lash out, ex: Stormy Daniels. Attacks on other women can take the form of verbal abuse or other abuses of their agency and autonomy; there’s probably worse buried under NDAs.
Funny how the only man he’s known to have attacked physically is his son Donnie, whom he did not want named Don Jr.
Quotes from Herr Drumpf:
“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” [2005]
“Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody. Nobody has more respect.” [Oct. 19, 2016]
That last quote…yeesh, the date of the last presidential debate, and ten days after he’d pulled this looming intimidation move on candidate Clinton. Respect is something he demands of others, not something he offers anyone else especially women.
I take your point. But carrying the “burden” is why “briefly” is there. The phrase it is in is an aside to the main argument.
just a report concerning dezinformatsiya. I listen to a lot of music, new and old, on you tube. A couple months back this “Epoch Times” wacko stuff on about the deep state, dark lords Clapper and Brennan, etc. has been starting to pop up in these clever little 30 sec well produced infomercials. It seems to be focused at young folks. And it could fool kids who don’t read much, making me feel that I’m right to worry about these nut job conspiracy theorists hawking their wares to the unsuspecting. I also notice that Trump and his minions use you tube a lot more than the white hats do. Wonder if anyone has seen these adverts, and also how would a lawyer/investigative journalist go about discovering the $ source behind it and how to go about maybe generating some bad main stream press against these sorts of things?
Yup, and the same ad company is calling the Mueller probe a democrat plot.