Michael G. Flynn
Michael G. Flynn
Michael with his father Michael T. Flynn
Michael G. Flynn also known as Michael Flynn Jr. is best known for his former role as member of President Trump's transition team.
He served on the team working under his father, Michael T. Flynn who briefly served as the National Security Advisor (United States). [undefined] [undefined]
Early Life
Michael G. Flynn.
was the son of General Michael T. Flynn and Lori Flynn formerly known as Lori Andrade. [undefined] Flynn Jr. grew up living on military bases in the United States due to his father's carer in the United States Army. One of the bases he lived on was Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Flynn Jr. had a passion for golf from a young age and would often play on the base's two golf courses after school. According to a friend, "He had a good old-fashioned coming-of-age American-white-male story," and that him and his brother Matthew, "liked a good party." [undefined]
Personal Life
Photo of Michael Flynn with his wife Jennifer Flynn who was pregnant with their first son at the time [undefined]
Michael G. Flynn met his wife, Jennifer Flynn in 2010.
The couple married the same year in a ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, near where his dad had grown up in a working-class family. [undefined] In April, 2017 the couple had their first child, who was a boy. [undefined]
Education
From 2003-2006, Michael G. Flynn attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte graduating with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management. [undefined]
From 2006-2007 Michael G. Flynn.
attended the Golf Academy of America in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina graduating with an associate's degree in Golf Complex and Operations Management with a 4.0 GPA. [undefined]
Career
After graduating from the Golf Academy of America Michael G. Flynn worked as a Golf Instructor for multiple years and also had an internship with the Professional Golfers' Association of America. [undefined]
From September, 2010-January, 2012 Michael.
G Flynn worked as a Sales and Solutions, Assesment/Process Analyst at CynergisTek known as Auxilio at the time, a healthcare IT consulting firm.
In January, 2012 Michael G. Flynn became a Resident Manager for Auxilio focusing on Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland which is a member of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. [undefined]
Flynn Intel Group
Photo of Michael G. Flynn with his father Michael T. Flynn outside of Trump Tower (New York)
In October, 2014 Michael G. Flynn joined his father Michael T. Flynn's consulting and lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group.
He worked as an Executive Assistant to his father who was the CEO of the firm. In this role, he was actively involved in consulting and lobbying, joining his father on overseas trips, such as Moscow in December 2015. During that trip, Mike Flynn Sr. dined with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a black-tie gala for the RT (TV network) which US intelligence views as a Russian propaganda outlet. [undefined]
After leaving the Flynn Intel Group, Michael G. Flynn became a Financial Analyst at CynergisTek which he had worked at before joining the Flynn Intel Group. [undefined]
Trump Transition Team
While working at Flynn Intel Group, Michael G. Flynn worked in President Donald Trump's transition team under his father, Mike Flynn, who briefly served as the National Security Advisor to Trump.
While on the team, Michael G. Flynn served as his father's Chief of Staff and top aide. [undefined]
Resignation
NBC Nightly News: Michael Flynn’s Son Is A Subject Of Russia Investigation
On December 6, 2016 Michael G. Flynn resigned from the Trump transition team after he made tweets about Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory accusing Hillary Clinton leading a child sex trafficking ring at Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. His tweet came after a a man named Edgar Welch who believed in the conspiracy went to investigate the pizzeria and ended up fired gunshots at the building. Michael G. Flynn had tweeted that #Pizzagate would remain a story until it’s “proven to be false.” [undefined]
Michael G. Flynn had promoted other conspiracy theories, including one that said former President Bill Clinton had raped a 13-year-old and another that accused Sen. Marco Rubio R-Florida, of being a gay cocaine user. [undefined]
Robert Mueller Investigation
In November 2017, former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn expressed concern about the potential legal exposure of his son, who is also under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller for alleged collusion with the Russian government. [undefined] [undefined]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller looked further into the Flynn investigation as part of the probe into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election, after Paul Manafort’s indictment. [undefined] [undefined]
Alleged Fethullah Gülen Kidnapping Plot
On November 10, 2017 The Wall Street Journal reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating an alleged plan involving former White House National Security Adviser Mike Flynn to forcibly remove Fethullah Güle, a Muslim cleric living in the U.S. and deliver him to Turkey in return for millions of dollars, according to people familiar with the investigation. [undefined]
Under the alleged proposal, Mr. Flynn and Michael Flynn Jr., were to be paid as much as $15 million for delivering Fethullah Gülen to the Turkish government, according to people with knowledge of discussions Mr. Flynn had with Turkish representatives. Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has pressed the U.S. to extradite him, views the cleric as a political enemy. [undefined]
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have asked at least four individuals about a meeting in mid-December at the 21 Club, a high-end American restuarant in New York City, where Mr. Flynn and representatives of the Turkish government discussed removing Mr. Gulen, according to people with knowledge of the FBI's inquiries. The discussions allegedly involved the possibility of transporting Mr. Gulen on a private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali, according to one of the people who has spoken to the FBI. [undefined]
CNN legal analyst, Michael Zeldin said the alleged plan to kidnap the cleric with the aid of foreign money directly violates US criminal code and could result in up to a 20-year sentence. [undefined]
"Under this statute, both domestic kidnapping in violation of US law, and if it was a crime in Turkish law, both would be specific unlawful activities, so anyone who engages in the effort to bring money into the US for the purpose of kidnapping another violates the statute.
That's a 20-year felony.
This probably has nothing to do with the Trumps, but this is a very serious crime," he said.
"Theoretically, if they did this international kidnapping and the Turkish government killed this guy, that could be a life sentence for the Flynns.
You don't really want to be involved in a scheme like this, no matter how broke you might be."
The alleged meeting in New York in December, which came after Mr. Flynn was tapped as national security adviser, was a follow-up to an earlier discussion, on Sept. 19, where Turkish officials first raised the possibility of forcibly removing Mr. Gulen.
That September meeting, held in a hotel room was attended by former CIA Director James Woolsey. [undefined]
Mr. Gulen's removal was discussed as "a covert step in the dead of night to whisk this guy away," according to Mr. Woolsey, who said he attended the meeting at the request of one of Mr. Flynn's business associates.
Also present at the September meeting were Mr. Erdogan's son- in -law and Turkey 's foreign minister, foreign-lobbying disclosure documents show.
The Turkish Embassy has previously acknowledged that Turkish officials met with Mr. Flynn but declined to discuss the conversation.
Mr. Woolsey said he informed the U.S. government about the September meeting by notifying Vice President Joe Biden through a mutual friend.
The mutual friend confirmed to the Journal that he told Mr. Biden about the meeting.
Mr. Biden's spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter, other than to say Mr. Biden felt the Gulen matter should be handled through the courts.
Mr. Woolsey, who served briefly as an adviser to the Trump campaign, said he turned down a consulting fee from Mr. Flynn's company, Flynn Intel Group because of what he heard at the meeting.
Response
The Flynn's lawyers fully denied the Wall Street Journal story in a written statement later on November 10, 2017.
"Out of respect for the process of the various investigations regarding the 2016 campaign, we have intentionally avoided responding to every rumor or allegation raised in the media," Robert Kelner, Stephen Anthony and Brian Smith said in the statement.
"But today's news cycle has brought allegations about General Flynn, ranging from kidnapping to bribery, that are so outrageous and prejudicial that we are making an exception to our usual rule: they are false."