(CNN) At nearly every turn of the probe into Russian interference into the 2016 election, President Donald Trump was working to make sure Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, knew that the White House was on his side -- and that the President himself thought Flynn was a good guy. Trump was worried -- and it turns out, rightly -- that Flynn knew things that would be problematic for the President as it related to Russia. And that if Flynn cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe -- as he eventually did -- it would have negative consequences for the administration. Flynn also assisted the Eastern District of Virginia and prosecutors from the Justice Department's National Security Division with a now-open case against his former lobbying partner, who allegedly worked illegally for Turkey." Among the things Flynn and his lawyers provided the special counsel was a voicemail from a Trump associate to a Flynn lawyer asking for "some kind of heads up" if Flynn was planning to cooperate with the government and what he might be telling them.

Source: CNN May 17, 2019 14:37 UTC