Washington - Former US national security
adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the
FBI about Russia, and ABC News said he was prepared to testify
that before taking office President Donald Trump had directed
him to make contact with Russians.
Reuters could not immediately verify the ABC report, which
cited a Flynn confidant. The news sent U.S. stocks sharply
lower.
Flynn, a former top Trump campaign aide and a central figure
in a federal investigation into Moscow's alleged interference in
the 2016 U.S. presidential election, pleaded guilty under a plea
deal on Friday to lying to the FBI.
His decision to cooperate with the investigation led by
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, marked a major escalation in a
probe that has dogged Trump's administration since the
Republican president took office in January.
ABC News cited a confidant as saying Flynn was ready to
testify that Trump directed him to make contact with Russians,
initially as a way to work together to fight the Islamic State
group in Syria.
It was not clear when Trump supposedly told Flynn to contact
Russians and whether there would be anything illegal in
requesting such contact.
Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements about
contacts he had in December with Russia's ambassador to the
United States, Sergei Kislyak, during the transition period
after Trump was elected and before he was sworn in. The charges
carry a sentence of up to five years in prison.
The White House said Flynn's guilty plea implicated him
alone.
"Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates
anyone other than Mr. Flynn," Ty Cobb, a White House attorney,
said in a statement on Friday.
Flynn was forced out of his White House post in February for
misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations
with the ambassador.
"The false statements involved mirror the false statements
to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in
February of this year," Cobb said, adding that the plea "clears
the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion" of Mueller's
probe.
Moscow has denied a conclusion by U.S. intelligence agencies
that it meddled in the election campaign to try to sway the vote
in Trump's favor. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign
and has called Mueller's probe a witch hunt.
Flynn said on Friday his decision to plead guilty and to
cooperate with the investigation was "made in the best interests
of my family and of our country."
In a statement issued by the law firm representing him,
Flynn also said it was "painful to endure" the "false
accusations of 'treason' and other outrageous acts" over the
past several months but that he recognized "that the actions I
acknowledged in court today were wrong."