Flynn, Michael Thomas, 1958–,
U.S. military officer and government official, b. Middletown, R.I., Univ. of
Rhode Island (B.S., 1981). Commissioned as an army second lieutenant upon
graduation (he joined the ROTC in college), he rose through the military
intelligence ranks to lieutentant general in 2011. He served in Grenada,
Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and was director of intelligence for the Joint
Special Operations Command (2004–7) in Afghanistan and Iraq, for the
U.S. Central Command (2007–8), for the Joint Staff (2008–9),
and for U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan (2009–10),
winning regard from his commanders. He subsequently was an assistant
director of national intelligence (2011–12) in the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence and director (2012–14) of the
Defense Intelligence Agency; in the latter post, conflicts with superiors
forced his resignation. After retiring from the military, he worked as a
security and intelligence consultant (2014–16), and advised several
Republican presidential candidates in 2016. Joining Donald Trump's campaign, he gained notoriety
for comments attacking Muslims and Hillary Clinton. Named national security
adviser, he served (2017) briefly under President Trump before revelations
about his contact before the inauguration with Russia's ambassador forced
his resignation; other questionable activities, including acting as an
unregistered agent for Turkey, also came to light. The FBI's investigation
into Flynn contributed to FBI Director Comey's dismissal, which led to
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
appointment and investigation into Flynn and other members of the Trump
campaign. In 2017 Flynn pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about
conversations with Russia's ambassador, but he subsequently withdrew this
plea. In May 2020, the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss all
charges against Flynn with prejudice, which the trial judge initially
resisted. However, in November, President Trump pardoned Flynn, and a month
later the case was dismissed as being moot by the judge.
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