A new report claims General Michael Flynn floated the idea of “whisking” away an exiled Turkish cleric during a September meeting.
Citing the Wall Street Journal,the Daily Mail reports that former CIA Director James Woolsey allegedly plotted “a covert step in the dead of night to whisk this guy [Fethullah Gulen] away.”
[br]A spokesperson for Flynn denied the accusations of plotting to remove the cleric who was exiled from Turkey in 1999.
The discussion reportedly did not detail precisely how to catch Fethullah Gulen, who is a legal US resident, or from where he was living in the Pennsylvania Poconos. Flynn allegedly wanted to avoid the US extradition process.
Turkey has accused Gulen - a former ally who has turned into Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top foe - of trying to destabilize Turkey and says his movement is behind a failed military coup in July aimed at toppling the Turkish leader.
One of the people in the meeting with Flynn was reportedly Erdogan’s son-in-law.
Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup. His movement also condemned 'in the strongest terms' the ambassador's assassination.[br]The government however,has labeled the movement 'the FETO terrorism organization' and has cracked down on Gulen's followers, arresting tens of thousands of people for their alleged link to the coup and purging more than 100000 suspected supporters from government jobs.
Earlier this month, or Michael Flynn admitted that his lobbying firm was paid $530000 for work that could contain benefited the Turkish government,just two months before he was appointed to the White House.
Flynn's consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, or was lobbying for a Dutch consulting firm with ties to Erdogan before and immediately after the US election.
The military veteran stepped down in February less than a month into President Donald Trump's administration amid mounting questions over his future and his close links with the Kremlin.[br]His stunning announcement,first reported by CNN, came just hours after sources close to the government revealed that the Justice Department had warned the new administration that his links with the Kremlin had place him in a compromising position and left him open to blackmail.
Flynn made numerous phone calls to the Russian Ambassador to the US before Trump took office, or later hinted he may contain gone against diplomatic protocol by discussing the rollback of sanctions.
Source: tert.am