The Flynn siblings are rallying around Michael Flynn, and earlier this month they pushed him to start a legal defense fund to meet the “crippling” costs of legal representation related to the investigations of the 2016 election.
“Michael has no choice but to defend himself against these baseless and politically motivated allegations by hiring a legal team who can help him,” Joe Flynn, his younger brother, told Breitbart News in an interview earlier this week.
Flynn resigned in February as Trump’s national security adviser, after anonymous officials illegally leaked classified intercepts of his communications to the media.
On January 12, a “senior U.S. government official” in the Obama administration told the Washington Post that Flynn spoke with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak several times on Dec. 29.
Then-Trump spokesman Sean Spicer and Vice President-elect Michael Pence told media outlets that Flynn did not discuss sanctions with the ambassador. Subsequent leaks said U.S. investigators had reviewed the call transcripts — although they did not find “any evidence of wrongdoing or illicit ties to the Russian government.”
Then on February 9, “current and former U.S. officials” told the Post that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Russia. Four days later, Flynn resigned, saying he had “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information” regarding his calls with Kislyak.
The FBI has since announced it is conducting an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, as well as looking for any collusion with the Trump campaign, which President Trump has called a “witch hunt.”
“We are disgusted at the totally biased and unfair media coverage of our brother who has been raked over the coals for totally politically motivated reasons,” said the younger Flynn brother.
“He has to fend for himself against these attacks and investigations,” and is “not even close to being independently wealthy to afford it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has put together a team of more than a dozen lawyers hailing from top legal firms.
“Mueller’s team boasts a storied amount of experience in both prosecution and criminal defense, hailing from prestigious law firms like WilmerHale to top spots within various divisions of the Justice Department,” Business Insider reported on Sept. 20.
“The lawyers, combined, possess a vast array of experience investigating financial fraud, corruption, money laundering, foreign bribery, and organized crime,” it said.
Although former Obama officials have admitted to unmasking Flynn in intercepts, to date, no one has been held to account for illegally leaking those classified intercepts to media outlets.
“The other side has unlimited legal resources and dollars to engage in endless investigations which can cripple the person being investigated,” Flynn said.
“We know that there are millions of people that love him and support him in the general public and thousands of friends, family and former colleagues from all branches of the U.S. Military that also feel that Michael has been smeared and mistreated,” he said.
“There is no way the Flynns were going to let this happen without some kind of strong support,” he added.
Flynn described a large but tight-knit family consisting of nine siblings and 20 grandchildren.
“We are a very tight-knit and patriotic Irish Catholic American family who grew up in a 1200 sq. ft. house with very little financial means,” he said.
“We had great parents who although they could not afford much in the way of money for anything, instilled in us pride, patriotism and faith in God and ourselves that we could accomplish anything we set out to do for ourselves,” he said.
“There was absolutely no room for slackers. They raised Generals, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and teachers of the year, despite our lack of money,” he said.
Flynn said his brother is currently spending much more time in Rhode Island, where he and his wife of 36 years, Lori, grew up.
“Lori is his rock, she is a very strong and no nonsense person who comes from a similar very humble background and has steadfastly stood by him through all of this. They have two wonderful sons and three grandchildren,” he said.
“They live near the ocean and that has also been a Godsend to them to be able to at least be near the sea as a refuge from the storm that has enveloped them,” he said.
Friends and family have donated, he said, but so have U.S. citizens who feel that Flynn has been treated and deemed guilty before proven innocent, he said.
“[It’s] in my humble opinion the most egregious public political assassination in modern American history,” he said.
“What is most outrageous to me and my family is this villainous/traitorous public persona that some in the media and other detractors have fostered out there,” he said. “As his younger brother, I would describe him as an incredibly kind-hearted and loving person who is totally approachable to anyone.”
“At the end, all he wants and has ever wanted is for the United States to remain that beacon of freedom and opportunity for all and there is no doubt that he would gladly sacrifice his own to ensure that continues,” he said.
Flynn is a retired Army three-star general who last served as chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He resigned in 2012, after clashes with the Obama administration over his efforts to reform the DIA.
He also felt the Obama administration had not taken the threat from Islamic terrorism seriously enough.
The Michael Flynn Legal Defense fund can be found here.
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