The republican President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor, Ret. Lt. General Mike Flynn who had to resign this post, after only 24 days on the job, due to adverse disclosures made public, was obliged to file updated financial disclosures which he did. It should not come as a surprise that his amended financial disclosure forms vary significantly from the originals.
Here is the rest of the story:
On 4/1/17, Matea Gold, Rosalind S. Helderman and Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post have penned the following report, “Michael Flynn did not initially reveal income from Russia-related entities on his personal financial disclosure.”
Excerpts:
“Before resigning under pressure as President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn submitted a personal financial disclosure form to federal ethics officials that failed to note speaking fees he received from Russia-related entities in 2015, new filings show.”
“Flynn later noted the payments on an amended form he signed Friday that listed among his sources of income the Russian government-backed television network RT, a U.S. air cargo company affiliated with the Volga-Dnepr Group and the U.S. subsidiary of Russian cyber-security firm Kaspersky Lab.”
“Flynn’s initial form was submitted to the Office of Government Ethics and the White House on Feb. 11 — just days before he was forced to leave his post amid controversy over his contacts with Russia’s ambassador. On the document, he noted that he received fees through a speakers bureau, but he did not detail the names of the organizations that paid to have him as a speaker.”
“A person familiar with his filing said Flynn’s initial form was a draft that would have gone through the usual process of review and revision in consultation with the White House Counsel’s Office and the Office of Government Ethics. However, that process was suspended when Flynn resigned. In recent days, White House officials asked him to finish the process and advised Flynn that he needed to itemize each organization that paid to have him as a speaker, the person said.”
“Flynn first acknowledged in a July interview with Yahoo that he had been paid for the December 2015 RT event in Moscow, where the retired Army lieutenant general sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a celebration for the network. He later confirmed to The Washington Post that the network provided his payment.”
“The U.S. government has said that RT, which receives Kremlin funding, is part of an array of propaganda outlets that help popularize a pro-Russian perspective through the media.”
“It was not until earlier this month that Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, disclosed new documents showing that Flynn had also been paid in 2015 for speeches in Washington by Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Kaspersky Government Security Solutions.”
“In all, Flynn earned at least $1.3 million in the past year, including more than $827,000 through his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, his disclosure shows.”
“Flynn’s amended filing included a dollar figure for an October speaking engagement paid for by Ibrahim Kurtulus, a former official with the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, a U.S.-based nonprofit. In his original form, Flynn included Kurtulus on a section of the form that requires officials to name all their sources of income exceeding $5,000 over the previous two years. He omitted Kurtulus, however, in another section of the form requiring more specific disclosures for income sources in the last year. In the amended form, he disclosed that he was paid a $10,000 speaking fee by Kurtulus in October 2016.”
“The Daily Caller reported that Flynn met with Kurtulus and another activist, Hilal Mutlu, a cousin of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that same month. At the time, Flynn’s firm was also being paid by a Dutch company owned by a Turk to undertake efforts favorable to the Turkish government.”
“The amended form details several other speaking engagements, including a $15,000 speech delivered to conservative activist David Horowitz’s Freedom Center and a $22,500 speech to Randall-Reilly Publishing Company.”
“Flynn also reported that he was paid $14,454.20 to deliver a speech to BlackDuck Software in October, just weeks before the election. BlackDuck’s website shows that Flynn spoke about the government’s vulnerability to computer hackers in the speech.”
Gronda Morin 
Plenty of shady dealings in Washington, glad the facts came out about Flynn. Trump is a harder nut to crack, withholding his tax returns like Obama with his birth certificate. 🙂
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1EarthUnited: I’m curious how you compare King tRumps refusal to provide his tax records (a tradition for a number of years) to an allegation about President Obamas birth certificate? Yes there are plenty of shady dealings in Washington DC, however at the current time most of the shady characters under actual scrutiny are members of the current administration. As time passes, I’m sure that enough information about the involvement of Flynn, tRump, and most of the rest of the administration, with the Russians will be revealed that even a die hard tRump fan will not even be able to deflect from the problem by trying to bring Obama or Hillary or anyone else into the discussion in an effort to relieve the tRump for responsibility for his actions.
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Hello Crusty, I would have to agree with you there’s corruption and coverups taking place in the current administration, that I am not denying. But that does not absolve the previous administration from their shortcomings. I’m an equal opportunity exposer, like Gronda, we’re all simply looking for the truth.
As for Trump’s taxes and Obama’s birth certificate, that’s a curious case of the pot calling the kettle black, I’m sure it’s a diversionary tactic to keep the public from inquiring about his business dealings with Russia.
BTW, Lada Ray, a fellow blogger proved that Trump had help from the Russians, and Putin swayed the election toward Trump via WikiLeaks. This has been brilliantly proven, yet the CIA and FBI won’t disclose their sources because it’s “classified”. It is this form of bureaucracy that the public are sick and tired of.
For the most part I’m in total agreement with you, in time all will be revealed.
For what it’s worth, I’m not a Trump supporter, nor did I vote for him. I have no vested interest in politicians in general, it’s up to us to change the country, certainly not big government.
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Dear 1EarthUnited,
Once some of the major participants of DT becoming president become witnesses to CYA, anything DT did that was against US national security interests will be revealed. Eventually, as part of any competent investigation DT’s tax returns will be subpoenaed for review.
DT was the one who forced President Obama to make public his long form HI birth certificate to end the spread of fake news that he was not a US citizen. Only the most hardened followers of DT believe that fake news.
Ciao, Gronda
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That’s what we’re all waiting for, DT’s tax returns will be subpoenaed for review. Then there will be no question where his loyalties lie… big business, cronyism, tax breaks for corporations and the rich etc.
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Dear 1EarthUnited,
My concerns regarding DT are if he is making policies based on his own financial interests versus what is best for American peoples and if he/ his surrogates coordinated with a foreign government to influence the 2016 US election’s process. Having access to DT’s tax returns can be helpful to uncover pertinent facts.
The other worries that I have are in regards to his mental health/ his ability to govern and if, he is allowing his prejudices to discount science, credible studies and data when he institutes policy.
His IRS returns are only one piece of the puzzle but it is a key piece.
Ciao, Gronda
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This whole administration is pathetic. Independent investigation is really needed here !
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Dear Roger,
There are lots of folks like me calling the US House Speaker Paul Ryan and others, to demand an independent hearing. I am finding that this is one issue that folks whether conservative or liberal can agree on which is this inquiry needs to be confronted in a non partisan, competent and factual basis.
It is the republicans in the US House who are digging in by refusing to even have Rep Nunes recuse himself from being the chair of the US House Intelligence Committee checking into Trump/ Russia ties.
Ciao, Gronda
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Gronda, in the well done pieces in “Newsweek” last year, it was exposed that DT was not very good at doing due diligence on his business partners abroad. More than a few had less than pristine records which caused some embarrassment. The fact his team did not perform sufficient due diligence on not just Flynn, but other nominees, is not unusual based on this history. DT lives off of a perception, rather than substance. Well, the perception of Flynn has never been pristine and is even worse when more digging is done. The same could be said of Trump. Keith
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Dear Keith,
And guess who was in charge of managing the hiring/ vetting of DT’s team. It was the VP Mike Pence. He presents himself in a more professional manner than DT but he does not have “clean hands.”
Ciao, Gronda
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Agreed. You would think with DT having so much dirty laundry, they would have picked more pristine people. Loyalty was graded too highly over ethics and competence. Even Genghis Khan picked on a merit system bypassing nepotism.
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