Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser. Thomson Reuters

The former national security adviser Michael Flynn may be cooperating or negotiating with prosecutors.

Flynn's legal team told President Donald Trump's counsel that it could not discuss the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, The New York Times reported.

Flynn's legal team was previously sharing information with Trump's counsel about the investigation.



The former national security adviser Michael Flynn may soon be cooperating or negotiating with prosecutors.

Flynn's legal team told President Donald Trump's counsel it could no longer discuss the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Flynn's counsel had been disclosing information on Mueller's investigation, which has expanded to examine whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to tilt the election in Trump's favor, but had notified Trump's legal team that it would stop doing so, four sources involved in the case told The Times.

Withholding information from Trump's counsel does not necessarily mean Flynn is cooperating with Mueller's investigation, as attorneys sometimes do that when beginning to negotiate with prosecutors, The Times reported. Sharing information among defense lawyers during investigations is also common, though the defendant's counsel must stop when a conflict of interest is raised, the report said.

"This is not entirely unexpected," Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's attorneys, said in a Washington Post report Thursday. "No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about General Flynn cooperating against the president."

Flynn previously told the FBI and investigators that he would submit to be interviewed in exchange for immunity from prosecution, according to officials cited in a Wall Street Journal report in March.

Robert Kelner, an attorney for Flynn, made the offer to the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees to avoid what he called "unfair prosecution," the report said, adding that no officials accepted Flynn's terms at the time.

Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., are subjects in Mueller's widening investigation, and Mueller is said to have enough evidence to indict the two.

Mueller is believed to have shifted his focus to Flynn after a federal grand jury in October indicted Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on various counts related to his work as a foreign agent and other financial crimes.

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