Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, will reportedly testify against the President and senior aides after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI over links to Russia.
ABC News reported that Mr Flynn would testify that Mr Trump ordered him to reach out to Moscow after last November’s presidential election, while the White House rejected the idea that he could implicate “anyone” else but himself.
“I recognise that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong,” Mr Flynn said after a federal court appearance in Washington.
“My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel’s office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
The charge normally carries up to five years in prison but under the terms of a plea deal, Mr Flynn faces a lighter sentence of only up to six months in jail, court filings show.
As part of the plea agreement, Mr Flynn has agreed to co-operate with an investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Mueller and a team of prosecutors are looking into accusations of Russian meddling in the presidential election and potential collusion by Mr Trump’s campaign.
The Washington Post reported that one of the “very senior” presidential transition team officials advising Mr Flynn to contact Russian officials about a UN resolution regarding Israel was Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide, Jared Kushner.
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US stock indexes fell following the developments. Wall Street has recently been trading at record highs because of plans by President Trump to cut taxes.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb said: “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr Flynn.”
Mr Cobb described Mr Flynn as “a former Obama administration official” who was only at the White House for “25 days”.
Mr Flynn was charged with being dishonest about contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
When asked in court in Washington whether he wanted to plead guilty, the retired three-star general said: “Yes sir.”
A court paper said Mr Flynn “did wilfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations”.
It added that Mr Flynn “falsely stated and represented to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” his dealings with the Russian ambassador.
The charges related to events late last year, during the transition period between President Obama and President Trump, when the US imposed sanctions on Russia, and when a United Nations Security Council resolution was pending.
Mr Flynn was interviewed by the FBI just days after Mr Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, before being forced to resign in February after White House officials claimed he had misled them about whether he had held discussions with Mr Kislyak.
Another former senior aide to Mr Trump, Paul Manafort, who ran his campaign for president for several months last year, was charged in October with conspiring to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as a foreign agent of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government.
Mr Manafort, who did not serve in Mr Trump’s administration, and a business associate who was charged with him, pleaded not guilty.
Mr Flynn is the first person who actually worked in the White House to be charged.
Mr Trump is said to have taken a particular interest in the Flynn investigation. Former FBI Director James Comey has claimed that during a private meeting in the Oval Office, Mr Trump asked him to consider ending the investigation into Mr Flynn.
Mr Comey said he was so unnerved by the meeting that he prepared an internal memo about it.
