Trump Is Mueller's 'Primary Target,' And Flynn Coordination Is A 'Scandal,' Legal Expert Says

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Robert Mueller, special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, leaves following a meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 21. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty

The information-sharing deal between President Donald Trump's legal team and that of former national security adviser Mike Flynn has been a "scandal," as well "ethically dubious" and could be construed as form of "witness tampering," according to a top legal expert.

University of New Hampshire professor and attorney Seth Abramson shared his opinions in a 30-tweet thread posted Thursday night on a possibly nefarious deal between the two legal camps and provided greater insight and context into what he believes has gone on.

Abramson broke down The New York Times explosive report of how Flynn's attorneys informed the president's lawyers they could no longer discuss Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. The report asserted such a breakaway could be a sign that Flynn is "cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal."

The president, himself, could also be Mueller's "primary target."

3/ The NYT has toyed—or even more than that—with Trump's self-aggrandizing pet theory that he isn't a target, so they assumed Flynn flipping at some point *wasn't* certain. But experts saw that, while Flynn was going to face punishment here, Donald Trump was the primary target.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 24, 2017

Both Trump and Flynn were possibly legally exposed as far back as February by legal experts as both could be seen as "witnesses" or "suspects" in a federal criminal probe, according to Abramson.

8/ Legal experts saw legal exposure for Trump and Flynn in February of 2017—and saw both men as witnesses and possible suspects in the same federal criminal investigation. Sharing privileged info or valuable investigative research under such circumstances is suspect and uncommon.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 24, 2017

Trump was also possibly further exposed when he spoke to Flynn in April, well after Flynn had left the White House, and reportedly told him to "stay strong." Following that call, Flynn then failed to give documents to congressional investigators. That key moment alone, according to Abramson, could be "evidence of criminal witness tampering."

9/ Trump's legal exposure comes in part from an April call to Flynn in which he told him to "stay strong"—after which Flynn refused to hand over docs to Congress. So Trump-Flynn coordination to date has been a scandal and maybe evidence of criminal witness tampering—not "common."

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 24, 2017

Furthermore, the split between Trump and Flynn's legal teams may be a sign that whatever possible deal each side had previously — with such a deal heavily favoring Trump — it now may be in Flynn's best interests to break away.

11/ As I've indicated, the info-sharing deal between Flynn and Trump was (a) ethically dubious from the start, (b) possibly connected to a course of conduct by Trump and allies that constituted witness tampering, and (c) nonsensical from a strategic standpoint—at least for Flynn.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 24, 2017

And Abramson pointed out that Flynn and Trump's "interests" may have diverged, which could lead one of the president's top and most trusted former campaign officials to consider working with Mueller even more.

7/ It's true defense lawyers with different clients can't work together when it poses a conflict—and that conflict arises the moment two suspects have divergent legal interests, *not* when one is cooperating. So in fact cooperation of the sort Trump and Flynn had is *not* common. pic.twitter.com/KPjANiW5B8

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 24, 2017

The former three-star general Flynn, who resigned from his White House post in February after he misinformed Vice President Mike Pence about his meeting with a Russian ambassador, was a key figure throughout Trump's successful campaign last year and led cheers of "lock her up" in reference to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But Flynn, as well as his son Mike Jr., have come under investigation for failing to properly disclose lobbying work at the behest of foreign governments under the firm, The Flynn Intel Group.

Earlier this week, a former partner of Flynn's was named as a possible witness before a Mueller grand jury and could face questions about Flynn's firm's work for Turkey, according to NBC News.

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