- Ex-Trump advisor
Michael Flynn tried to pressure a top defense official to help overturn the election, a new book says. - Flynn reportedly called Ezra Cohen about seizing ballots weeks after projections showed Biden had won the election.
Michael Flynn, former national security advisor to President
In the aftermath of the presidential election, the Trump White House purged the civilian leadership at the Pentagon, firing not only the defense secretary but also pushing out other senior leaders and replacing them with individuals widely seen as Trump loyalists.
Ezra Cohen, who had worked under Flynn at the Defense Intelligence Agency and with him on the National Security Council, was tapped to fill the role as acting undersecretary of defense for intelligence.
Around Thanksgiving last year, Flynn, a retired Army general who the president pardoned unconditionally after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, called Cohen for the first time in nearly three years, Karl reports in the book "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show." Much of the media had announced then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden was the election's winner on Nov. 7.
Flynn asked Cohen where he was. When Cohen responded that he was traveling in the Middle East, Flynn demanded that he cut his trip short and come back to the US, where big things were going to happen.
"We need you," Flynn told Cohen.
"He said there was going to be an epic showdown over the election results," Karl wrote in his book, adding that "he said he needed to get orders signed, that ballots needed to be seized, and that extraordinary measures needed to be taken to stop Democrats from stealing the election."
"Sir, the election is over," Cohen replied. "It's time to move on."
"You're a quitter," Flynn reportedly yelled back at Cohen in the phone. "This is not over. Don't be a quitter!" That was the last time the two spoke.
Insider reached out to Flynn about the conversation reported in Karl's book but was unable to receive comment on his reported remarks.
In the aftermath of the presidential election, Flynn was outspoken about the need for the military to get involved in the election — a potentially dangerous move tantamount to a coup. Federal law makes it a crime for a federal official to use the military or armed people to intervene in an election.
Speaking with conservative outlet Newsmax in December 2020, he suggested that Trump order the seizure of voting machines. He also suggested imposing martial law in swing states to rerun elections.
"There is no way in the world we are going to be able to move forward as a nation," he said, adding that "He could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these machines, on his order."
In the same interview he said that the president "could order the, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities, and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states."
Prior to that interview, he shared a message on social media urging Trump to suspend the Constitution, impose martial law, and hold a new election.
Karl's new book provides an in-depth look at Trump's final year in the White House and his unprecedented efforts to overturn the election. Flynn was just one of a number of Trump's close allies who recommended drastic actions to the increasingly isolated president. Trump's former attorney Sydney Powell also made unusual calls to the Pentagon, according to Karl, and Mike Lindell, another Trump ally, was seen leaving the West Wing during Trump's final week with notes that included the Insurrection Act, a rarely used authority that allows a president to deploy troops to quell riots and rebellions.
Trump's misleading and inaccurate comments about the 2020 election catalyzed the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, which stands as one of the most blatant assaults on the democratic process in the US in the country's history.
But in a March 2021 interview with Karl for the book, the former president showed little to no remorse for what he provoked. Trump reflected on January 6 as a "very beautiful time with extremely loving and friendly people."