COURTS/MICHAEL FLYNN/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Friday [5-17-19] added fuel to his claims that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe was designed to undermine his presidency with a tweet musing why intelligence officials did not inform him they were investigating Michael Flynn before tenure as national security adviser. Court records released Thursday [5-16-19] showed that Flynn assisted Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump and his allies obstructed justice by interfering with the special counsel’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The court filings also detailed Flynn’s extensive cooperation with Mueller’s investigation of WikiLeaks’ dumping of stolen Democratic emails and the interaction between Trump’s transition team and Russia. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to making false statements to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador before Trump was inaugurated. In a December 2016 call, which was intercepted by U.S. intelligence, Flynn discussed the Obama administration’s newly imposed sanctions on Russia — and encouraged the Kremlin not to retaliate, with Trump poised to take office.”
–Katie Galioto, “Trump: Why wasn’t I told Flynn was under investigation?,” Politico, May 17, 2019 12:00 pm