PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Embattled former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has opened a new consulting firm called Resilient Patriot, LLC that is advising private equity firms, according to one of his brothers, who says Flynn is “moving on with his life.”
Joe Flynn said his family also is in the early stages of starting a fund to pay for the legal bills his brother is racking up as he sits at the center of multiple probes into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“Mike’s not a millionaire, not even close,” Joe Flynn told The Associated Press this week. “This situation has put him in a tough spot financially. This is going to cost him a lot of money.”
“There’s a lot of people that are big fans of his across the country,” he added.
Several of Flynn’s siblings plan to administer the fund for the retired Army lieutenant general, and are working on setting up a website and consulting with a lawyer about the legal intricacies of such a fund. Joe Flynn said they want to “be as transparent as possible” and do it properly.
After being forced into retirement in 2014 by the Obama administration, Flynn went on to set up a company that accepted speaking fees from Russian entities and later did consulting work for a Turkish-owned business. He joined the Trump campaign and then the administration as an early supporter.
But the Trump White House ousted him after saying he mischaracterized conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. A wide range of his actions - including foreign contracts and payments, and whether he lied to officials - are under scrutiny by investigators.
Joe Flynn said his brother is not independently wealthy, and depends on his Army pension. While his brother made some money consulting, Joe Flynn said much of that went into his company and to subcontractors.
Now, with Resilient Patriot, Michael Flynn is advising private equity firms on deals they are considering, Joe Flynn said. He did not specify the firms.
“They use him to vet opportunities with his network,” he said. “He’s slowly starting to do that as a totally independent consultant.”
While he said his older brother is doing well, “There’s still a cloud over him,” he said, adding “I think he’s not worried about going to jail or anything like that.”
His son, Mike Flynn Jr., used the name Resilient Patriot on Twitter, but the work does not involve him, Joe Flynn said. Flynn Jr. sent numerous posts on Twitter about the conspiracy theories of Pizzagate, a fake news story suggesting a Washington, D.C., pizza shop played a key role in a child sex trafficking ring run by Hillary Clinton. The conspiracy theory influenced a North Carolina man to fire a rifle in the restaurant in December.
Michael Flynn has been spending most of his summer in Middletown, Rhode Island, where he and his wife grew up and where they built a home years ago. Flynn has spent time surfing and golfing there in recent days.
The plans for a legal defense fund were first reported by Bloomberg.
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