Former Watergate prosecutor and General Counsel of the Army Jill Wine-Banks explained why Michael Flynn is reported to be cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of President Donald Trump.
"I think that we can look at, 'why is Flynn now possibly cooperating?' One would be to protect himself and his son, and the other is that he doesn't trust the president to be able to pardon him, because otherwise, he could rely on that, instead of cooperation," Wine-Banks explained to MSNBC anchor Katy Tur on Friday.
"I think the reason for that may be the state charges are possible on the talking about kidnapping Gulen, the Muslim cleric," Wine-Banks suggested. "That could explain why he's cooperating instead of waiting for a pardon, is the need for protection you can't get pardoned from a state crime."
Wine-Banks explained a "proffer of evidence" and what that would have needed to document for Flynn to get a deal.
"I think he's taking the right steps and I'm sure that he will have had a proffer of evidence from Flynn before he would engage in conversations [about a deal]," Wine-Banks noted. "Unless Flynn can give him Jared Kushner, Don Jr, or the president, he's not of value to him and he would prosecute him for the numerous crimes that he's being investigated for."
"I'm suspecting that because Donald Trump protected him so much, he knows something really significant about the president or his son or his son-in-law, and that's the only reason that the president would have been so concerned about him in particular," Wine-Banks concluded.
Watch:
