President Donald Trump on Friday attempted to distance himself from former national security adviser Michael Flynn following a report that he provided information to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“It now seems the General Flynn was under investigation long before was common knowledge,” Trump tweeted on Friday, after court papers filed by special counsel Robert Mueller were unredacted and released this week. “It would have been impossible for me to know this but, if that was the case, and with me being one of two people who would become president, why was I not told so that I could make a change?”
According to NBC News, the filing states that Flynn “informed the government of multiple instances, both before and after his guilty plea, where either he or his attorneys received communications from persons connected to the Administration or Congress that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation.”
“The defendant even provided a voicemail recording of one such communication. In some of those instances, the SCO was unaware of the outreach until being alerted to it by the defendant,” the filing reads.
Former President Barack Obama and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates both reportedly cautioned Trump against hiring Flynn due to his contact with Russia’s ambassador.