Criminal Charges Filed Against Flynn

The Justice Department has filed criminal charges in its Russia investigation against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. 

Flynn appeared in a federal court in Washington Friday morning, shortly after turning himself in to the FBI. 

The retired three-star Army lieutenant general pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal officials investigating whether anyone in President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

According to court documents filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Flynn "…did willfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements…" to agents about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in January. Flynn was forced out of the Trump Administration in February for misleading Vice President Pence about those conversations.

Flynn is just the latest associate of President Trump to be charged in the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign. He is, however, the first one who ever worked inside the Trump White House.

Back in October, prosecutors charged Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, and campaign adviser George Papadopoulos as part of the probe. The White House downplayed their indictments.

Just this week, Flynn’s legal team had stopped cooperating with the White House about the investigation.