Washington: President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty as part of a probe into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign, has joined a Washington firm that lobbies for Qatar, the firm announced Tuesday.
Flynn will be the director of global strategy at Stonington Global LLC.
Prior to his guilty plea late last year, Flynn had been forced out from his national security advisor post, after only 22 days, over concerns that he could be compromised by false statements he made over his contacts with Russian officials and his paid lobbying for Turkey during the campaign.
Prior to that he had been fired by Barack Obama as defense intelligence chief.
Flynn was a close advisor to Trump during the presidential campaign and was named to lead the white House national security council after Trump won the election.
But he fell under investigation over his secret discussions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump became president in January 2017.
That investigation expanded to his receiving tens of thousands of dollars by Russian firms to appear at events, and his undeclared lobbying for Turkey during the 2016 presidential campaign, for which he reportedly earned more than $500,000.
Facing potentially severe charges that included acting as an unregistered lobbyist, Flynn agreed on December 1, 2017 to plead guilty to a single count of lying to investigators in exchange for cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
On Tuesday he appeared in a Washington court to discuss his sentencing, which has been repeatedly postponed by Mueller as he apparently continues to draw on Flynn’s cooperation in the probe.
Canadian-born Muzin is a veteran consultant for US Republicans and advised Senator Ted Cruz on his failed campaign for president in 2016. He then worked on the Trump campaign and the post-election transition team.
In 2017 he began lobbying for Qatar amid a crisis with the Arab Quartet comprising of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt who accuse it of supporting extremism.
