White House: Nothing about Flynn's plea 'implicates anyone' else

KEY POINTS

• President Trump's personal lawyer said Friday that former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn's guilty plea implicates no one "other than Mr. Flynn."
• Cobb described Flynn as a "former Obama administration official," a seemingly deliberate attempt to distance Flynn from the president.
• Earlier Friday Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about conversations he had with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in late 2016, when Flynn was a top member of Trump's transition team.

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer said Friday that former national security advisor Michael Flynn's guilty plea implicates no one "other than Mr. Flynn."

Attorney Ty Cobb issued his statement after Flynn admitted lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Cobb described Flynn as a "former Obama administration official," a seemingly deliberate attempt to distance Flynn from the president.

"Today, Michael Flynn, a former National Security Advisor at the White House for 25 days during the Trump Administration, and a former Obama administration official, entered a guilty plea to a single count of making a false statement to the FBI.

"The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year. Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn. The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel's work demonstrates again that the Special Counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion."

Earlier Friday Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about conversations he had with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in late 2016, when Flynn was a top member of Trump's transition team.

Former U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn departs U.S. District Court, where he was expected to plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States, in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2017.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Flynn said Friday that he would cooperate with the special counsel's inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a decision he said he made "in the best interests of my family and of our country."