Michael Flynn may have just flipped on Trump. And evidence that the president may have obstructed justice is mounting.

1. THE FALL OF DONALD
TRUMP

2. MICHAEL FLYNN MAY HAVE JUST FLIPPED
ON TRUMP
• For months, one important,
unanswered question has been
why President Trump was so
intent on protecting disgraced
former national security adviser
Michael Flynn. Since Trump is
hardly known for looking out for
anyone other than himself, the
logical explanation has been that
he’s worried that Flynn knows
something that could be
damaging to Trump if he reveals

3. TODAY, WE HAVE WHAT MAY BE THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT NEWS IN THIS STORY YET. MICHAEL
FLYNN MAY HAVE JUST FLIPPED ON TRUMP:
• Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty Friday
to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador
Sergey Kislyak, and court records indicate he was acting under
instructions from senior Trump transition officials in his dealings
with the diplomat.
• Flynn’s admission to the charge Friday in federal district court in D.C.
could be an ominous sign for the White House, as Flynn is
cooperating in the ongoing probe of possible coordination between
the Trump campaign and the Kremlin to influence the 2016
election. His plea revealed that he was in touch with senior Trump
transition officials before and after his communications with Kislyak

4. WHY DID FLYNN LIE
TO THE FBI?
• Put a pin in this question: Why
did Flynn lie to the FBI? As a key
member of the presidential
transition, it might have been
perfectly reasonable for him to
be in communication with
foreign governments about
substantive matters that would
affect the incoming
administration (providing it
were coordinated with the
outgoing administration). So
what was Flynn trying to hide?

5. GEN MICHAEL FLYNN HAS PROMISED
• Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn has
promised “full cooperation” in the
special counsel’s Russia investigation
and, according to a confidant, is
prepared to testify that Donald Trump
directed him to make contact with the
Russians, initially as a way to work
together to fight ISIS in Syria…
• A close confidant told ABC News that
Flynn felt abandoned by Trump in
recent weeks, and told friends about
the decision to make the plea deal
within the last 24 hours as he grew
increasingly concerned about crippling
legal costs he would face if he
continued to contest the charges.

6. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT KNEW SINCE THEY
WERE MONITORING KISLYAK’S
COMMUNICATIONS• Recall the backstory here: A few days after
Trump took office, Flynn lied to the FBI
about his contacts with the Russian
ambassador. We know this because then-
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
informed White House officials that Flynn
had lied to the FBI — which the Justice
Department knew since they were
monitoring Kislyak’s communications — and
had therefore made himself vulnerable to
blackmail. Yet for some reason it took 18
days after the White House learned this
information for Flynn to be fired. Trump
specifically denied that he had directed
Flynn to talk to the Russian ambassador.
And right after the firing, Trump not only
began praising Flynn to the heavens in
public but also embarked on a behind-the-
scenes campaign to get investigators to lay

7. MUELLER IS BUILDING A CASE OF
OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE AGAINST THE
PRESIDENT• There’s another major story that just
happened to break today, in which the
New York Times reports that Trump
has been pressing members of the
Senate Intelligence Committee to end
their investigation of Russian meddling
in the election. Given the fact that
multiple strands of this scandal point
to the possibility that special counsel
Robert S. Mueller III is building a case
of obstruction of justice against the
president, it would be useful to remind
ourselves of all the different times
Trump has taken steps to shut down
the Russia probe.

8. JEFF SESSIONS REFUSED TO ANSWER THE
QUESTION OF WHETHER TRUMP PRESSURED
HIM TO HINDER THE PROBE• Thursday, in closed-door testimony
to the House Intelligence Committee,
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
refused to answer the question of
whether Trump pressured him to
hinder the probe, according to Rep.
Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Trump has
been quite candid about his anger at
Sessions for recusing himself from
the Russia matter, since that recusal
means that Sessions is unable to shut
down the investigation. Given all the
other people he has pressured on
Russia, it would be shocking if Trump
hadn’t pressed Sessions to do so, his
recusal notwithstanding.

9. TRUMP TRIED VERY HARD TO SHUT DOWN
NOT JUST THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
• But here’s what we know as of now.
Trump tried very hard to shut down not
just the Russia investigation in general,
but the investigation of Flynn
specifically. Not only did he fail, but
now Flynn is cooperating with Mueller’s
investigation. Given all the crimes Flynn
may have committed, Mueller would
only have sought that cooperation if
Flynn had meaningful information to
offer on someone higher up than him.
We’re only beginning to get hints of
what that information is and who it
relates to. But I’m guessing Flynn has
plenty of interesting stories to tell.