Michael Flynn charged for lying to FBI

Washington D.C. [United States], Dec 1 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn has been charged for making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his post-election discussions with Russia's ambassador to the United States in January.

Michael Flynn was charged with "willfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements," reported the Independent, citing the court documents.

Previous reports have purported that Flynn spoke with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak shortly after President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia.

Flynn is accused of falsely telling the FBI that he did not ask Kislyak to "refrain from escalating the situation in response to [the] sanctions."

Flynn was scheduled to appear at a plea hearing at 10.30am in Washington DC.

He was forced to resign in February after misleading the White House about meeting the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.

According to the reports, Flynn is at the center of a broader investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into the Russian meddling in the 2016 US Presidential election campaign.

Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates were indicted last month; they pleaded not guilty.

In addition to this, Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty for making a false statement to the FBI over contacts with officials connected to the Russian government.

Apparently, Mueller's team was seeking a deal of some kind to win Flynn's cooperation in that investigation. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI