Special Counsel Mueller is investigating allegations that Michael Flynn was involved in a plot to kidnap an enemy of the Turkish president

Michael Flynn was allegedly involved in a very strange kidnapping plot.
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is probing allegations that President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was involved in a deal to earn $15 million from the successful kidnapping of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen from the United States, The Wall Street Journal reports. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressured the U.S. government to extradite Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and is accused by Ankara of orchestrating a failed coup in Turkey in 2016. Gulen and his supporters deny the charges.

Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., reportedly met with Turkish government officials in December 2016 — after Michael Flynn was already selected as national security adviser — and allegedly discussed "the possibility of transporting Mr. Gulen on a private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali," The Wall Street Journal first reported in March. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who claims he was at the meeting, described the plan as "a covert step in the dead of night to whisk this guy away." After hearing the scheme, Woolsey informed then-Vice President Joe Biden via a mutual friend.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.