Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI News
Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI

Former national security advisor to Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty [plea agreement, PDF] Friday to charges of making false statements to the FBI.

The charges [information, PDF], brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller [official website], are related to two specific statements that Flynn made to the FBI. In the first statement Flynn made on December 29, 2016, Flynn denied making a request to a Russian ambassador to “refrain from escalating the situation” after the US imposed sanctions on Russia and Flynn denied recalling that the Russian ambassador then stated they will “moderate” their response due the the request.

In the second statement Flynn made on December 22, 2016, Flynn denied asking a Russian Ambassador to delay or defeat a United Nations Security Council resolution. Flynn also denied receiving a response to the request.

A complaint was filed [JURIST report] earlier this week seeking to remove Robert Mueller as the head of the Russian investigation by Freedom Watch, claiming that leaks, conflicts of interest, and jury shopping has caused Mueller to fail “to carry out his oath of office, and fulfill his duties.” Mueller filed charges [JURIST report] against two former campaign officials of President Trump, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, in October, and revealed a plea agreement reached with President Trump’s former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.