Flynn Delayed Attack On ISIS That Turkey Opposed: Report
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn acted to delay a plan to retake an ISIS stronghold that was opposed by Turkey, according to a new report.
According to McClatchy, reports that President Obama and his national security adviser Susan Rice informed then president-elect Trump of a plan to retake the city of Raqqa from ISIS with the help of Syrian Kurdish forces. The Trump team was informed because while the plan was approved under Obama, it would likely be executed after Trump took office.
Flynn told Rice to delay approving the mission which lines up with Turkey’s interests in the region. Turkey has long been an opponent of the United States partnering with Kurdish forces.
And the recommendation to delay the mission approval took place during the Trump team’s transition period.
Flynn was under investigation by the FBI for lobbying for Turkey during the presidential campaign without declaring it. It was reported by the New York Times that Flynn informed the Trump transition that he was under investigation for lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government which he received payment of more than $500,000.
Vice President Mike Pence was the head of the transition when Flynn informed the transition that he was under investigation.
Here is a key segment of the McClatchy report:
Now members of Congress, musing about the tangle of legal difficulties Flynn faces, cite that exchange with Rice as perhaps the most serious: acting on behalf of a foreign nation – from which he had received considerable cash – when making a military decision. Some members of Congress, in private conversations, have even used the word “treason” to describe Flynn’s intervention, though experts doubt that his actions qualify.
But treason or not, Flynn’s rejection of a military operation that had been months in the making raises questions about what other key decisions he might have influenced during the slightly more than three weeks he was Trump’s national security adviser, and the months he was Trump’s primary campaign foreign-policy adviser.
Trump Team Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation When They Made Him National Security Adviser
