The U.S. Army has apparently hit retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn with a financial penalty of nearly $40,000 in connection to money he was paid by Russia Today — a Russian government-controlled news outlet — for an appearance at an event in Russia (where Putin was also in attendance) in 2015. Flynn, of course, went on to serve as a national security adviser to then-President Trump, although amid scrutiny of his lies about contacts with a Russian ambassador, Flynn quickly left the government, where he previously had other responsibilities.
In an early May letter, the Army indicated Flynn might have been in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which restricts officials from receiving various things of value from foreign government interests. According to the Army (addressing Flynn), they “determined that you did not obtain the necessary approvals before engaging in employment activities with Russia Today (RT), a foreign government-controlled entity.” Army officials are seeking to recover $38,557 from Flynn. According to the ex-official, who also served in the Obama administration before becoming mired in controversy because of his propagation of destructive conspiracy theories, authorities are taking it from his retirement money.
New: Jan. 6 committee on Rudy Giuliani expected no-show tomorrow: “Giuliani is an important witness to the conspiracy to overthrow the government and he remains under subpoena. If he refuses to comply the committee will consider all enforcement options.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 6, 2022
“It’s just another dig, another means to embarrass, another way that they just want me to shut up,” Flynn said (there’s no evidence of a conspiracy targeting Flynn). “And I’m not about to, it’s not in my nature, I’m not designed that way. And I will tell you that it actually stiffens my backbone even more… They’re just going to reach into my retirement, and they’re going to take some money out… It means something, but at the end of the day, this country means a heck of a lot more than what they will do to me.” Among other conspiracy theories, Flynn has been among the prominent promoters of lies about the integrity of the last presidential election. He promoted the notion of then-President Trump declaring martial law amid attempts to secure a second term for the then-commander-in-chief — an obviously wildly destructive possibility if put into practice that could have threatened the continuation of democracy.
JUST IN: Oath Keeper William Wilson — charged with seditious conspiracy over Jan. 6 — will cooperate with DOJ investigation, and was in a suite when Oath Keepers leader Rhodes tried to get someone to get Trump to allow them to stop the transfer of power. https://t.co/opsaa6OBEo
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 4, 2022
“[Trump] could order the, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities, and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states… I mean, it’s not unprecedented. These people are out there talking about martial law like it’s something that we’ve never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times,” Flynn said in December 2020. His comments were not reflective of genuinely legitimate possibilities for handling the fact that Joe Biden won the presidential election. The lie, though, continues — Trump and certain prominent allies of his have never acknowledged the reality that there’s no real-world evidence of widespread election fraud. Check out Flynn’s comments below:
Michael Flynn said he was just informed by DOD that they are recouping $40K he received from Russia for a speaking fee in 2015. “It’s just another dig, another means to embarrass .. They’re just gonna reach into my retirement and take some money out.” pic.twitter.com/93N8ivk1uZ
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) May 11, 2022
