Special counsel Robert Mueller is probing an alleged plot by former White House National Security Adviser Mike Flynn to seize a Muslim cleric living in the US and deliver him to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, according to a report.
Under the plan, Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., were to be paid as much as $15 million for removing Fethullah Gulen from his home in the Poconos and sending him to Turkey, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long pressed the US government to extradite Gulen, whom he has accused of instigating a failed coup in July 2016 and wants to face trial. Gulen has denied involvement in the coup.
President Trump fired Flynn after just 24 days on the job when news reports revealed he had been in contact with then-Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the campaign and kept the White House in the dark about those meetings.
Flynn waited until March to retroactively register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for the work he did for a Turkish businessman.
Last week, it was reported that Mueller has collected enough evidence to charge Flynn and his son as part of his sweeping probe into Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election and any collusion by the Trump campaign.
The FBI has been looking into claims made by former CIA Director James Woolsey that Flynn and Turkish officials discussed a plot to kick Gulen out of the United States.
Woolsey was a member of Flynn’s firm, the Flynn Intel Group, according to a Justice Department filing by the firm and an archive of the company’s website.
According to the Journal, FBI agents have asked at least four people about a meeting in mid-December at the upscale “21” Club in Manhattan where Flynn and Turkish government representatives discussed removing Gulen.
The discussions allegedly involved the possibility of flying Gulen on a private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali, one of the sources who has spoken to the feds told the Journal.
Flynn was offered upward of $15 million — to be paid directly or indirectly — if he could seal the deal, two sources familiar with the meeting told NBC News.
Investigators also are looking into what possible role Flynn’s son may have played in the alleged plot, the network reported. Flynn Jr. worked closely with his dad at his lobbying firm.
Flynn’s lawyers denied the Journal story in a written statement later Friday.
“Out of respect for the process of the various investigations regarding the 2016 campaign, we have intentionally avoided responding to every rumor or allegation raised in the media,” Robert Kelner, Stephen Anthony and Brian Smith said in the statement.
“But today’s news cycle has brought allegations about General Flynn, ranging from kidnapping to bribery, that are so outrageous and prejudicial that we are making an exception to our usual rule: they are false.”
Three people familiar with the probe told NBC News that authorities also are examining whether Flynn and other participants discussed a way to free a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who is jailed in the US.
Zarrab faces federal charges that he helped Iran avoid American sanctions.
With Post Wires