Michael Flynn Biography, Son, Wife, Education, How Connected to Russia?

A retired US Army Lieutenant General, Michael Flynn served as national security adviser to US President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, since the start of the investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign during the 2016 US presidential election, his name has become more popular in this regard than anywhere else. Beyond his professional life and his involvement in the whole Russian saga, here are some things to know about him.

The biography of Michael Flynn

It’s like Michael Thomas Flynn that the former National Security Advisor was born in December 1958 in Middletown, Rhode Island. Of Irish descent, he was raised alongside eight siblings by their parents, Helen Frances and Charles Francis Flynn.

While her father also worked in the army as a sergeant, her mother placed more emphasis on education than anything else while raising her children in the Catholic family.

Flynn was an athletic kid involved in a number of sports, including basketball, soccer, and surfing. In 1976, he led his high school to a Division B football championship. Although he was not a big kid, he still played football in college as a defensive guard and linebacker on a team consisting of most people taller than him. Yet he co-captain of the team mainly because he was seen as a team leader.

Education and professional life

For his education, Michael Flynn attended Middletown High School and from there he moved to the University of Rhode Island where he enlisted in the Reserve Officer Corps (ROTC) and graduated in 1981 with a degree in management science.

Then he went to Golden Gate University where he earned a Masters of Business Administration in Telecommunications. He also attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, as well as the Naval War College, where he earned a master’s degree in military arts and science and a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies.

In 1981 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He continued to serve until 2014 when he retired as a Lieutenant General of the Army with numerous honors including a Defense Distinguished Service Medal, 4 Defense Senior Service Medals, 2 Legions of the merit and 4 bronze star medals.

After his retirement, Flynn founded a consulting company called Flynn Intel Group Inc. The company worked with many international companies, including Inovo BV – a Turkish company.

In February 2016, Flynn was called on to serve as an adviser to the Trump campaign. In July, he was already considered Donald Trump’s running mate ahead of Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s selection.

After his election victory, Donald Trump appointed Michael Flynn as national security adviser, even after being warned against it by President Obama during a meeting at the White House before Trump’s inauguration. More so, there were reports that had already linked Flynn to Russia at the time.

Michael Flynn was forced to resign as National Security Adviser in February 2017 after it was discovered he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russians. After his resignation, Donald Trump met with FBI Director James Comey, to whom he told he wished he could let Flynn go as “he’s a good guy”.

wife and son

Just as his professional history is interesting, so is his love life. He married Lori Andrade as early as 1982. Flynn and his wife first met when they were both students at Middletown High School in Rhode Island. Knowing each other since their second year, it was in their senior year that they started dating.

The marriage was blessed with two children.Michael Flynn Jr. and Matt Flynn. Much like his father, Michael Flynn Jr. is currently under investigation and it has been speculated that he could be charged as part of the investigation. Reportedly, the former Flynn was warned that his son could be charged, leading to a plea bargain and even cooperating with investigators.

However, according to the younger Flynn, his father only decided to plea bargain because of the financial burden the case had placed on the family.

How is Michael Flynn connected to Russia?

Even before Donald won the 2016 election, his campaign team was already under investigation over his post-election contacts with Russia allegedly influencing the election. This led to the appointment of Robert Mueller to investigate the collision between Russia and the Trump campaign team during the election.

Among those who are at the center of contact with theRussians, it was Flynn who met with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. He would not only lie to the vice president, but also to the investigators.

However, he would later seek a plea bargain and then plead guilty to making false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with Kislyak.