URI Refuses To Comment on Flynn’s Honorary Degree After He Is Banned By Twitter as a QAnon Activist

URI Refuses To Comment on Flynn’s Honorary Degree After He Is Banned By Twitter as a QAnon Activist

The University of Rhode Island is refusing to comment about the status of the Honorary Degree awarded to former General Michael Flynn in 2014.

On Friday Twitter banned Flynn and other QAnon members for violating the companies policies and promoting conspiracy theories.

Flynn had joined such notables as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Coretta Scott King, Elie Wiesel, Christiane Amanpour, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Lyndon B. Johnson, Aaron Copland, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Margaret Chase Smith, to name just a few of those Americans deemed worthy of being recognized for their contributions by URI.

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Flynn has become a high profile QAnon activist.

“The accounts have been suspended in line with our policy on Coordinated Harmful Activity," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. "We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content."

 

What is QAnon?

The New York Times described the organization QAnon as "once a fringe phenomenon — the kind most people could safely ignore. But in recent months, it’s gone mainstream. For months, QAnon supporters have been flooding social media with false information about Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter protests and the 2020 election. QAnon supporters have also been trying to attach themselves to other activist causes, such as the anti-vaccine and anti-child-trafficking movements, in an effort to expand their ranks.”

In 2020, Flynn made a public pledge in support to QAnon. 

Recently, Flynn was in a video that was publicly distributed featuring him and others reciting the QAnon oath.

 

Legal Problems, Presidential Pardon and URI

Flynn was pardoned by President Donald Trump after more than three years of legal issues including at one time Flynn pleading guilty to FBI investigators. 

His legal proceedings had endless twists and turns.

NBC News’ Chuck Todd was forced to apologize relating to how a clip was edited pertaining to Flynn. 

In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that “A federal judge on Wednesday unsealed new documents in former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s criminal case that his lawyers say are evidence the government tried to set him up in a 2017 interview that led to his departure from the Trump administration and subsequent indictment on a charge of lying.”

“The documents consist of two redacted email exchanges as well as one page of handwritten notes by an unidentified official that appeared to involve Federal Bureau of Investigation preparations for Mr. Flynn’s interview. In the handwritten notes, which are dated Jan. 24, 2017—the day of the Flynn interview—the author writes: ‘What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?’” writes the WSJ.

In January of 2020, Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser, filed to withdraw Flynn’s 2017 guilty plea for lying to the FBI. 

After prosecutors last week recommended jail time for Flynn, his legal team reversed course, accusing prosecutors of "bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement."

"The prosecution seeks to rewrite history and send Mr. Flynn to prison," his lawyers wrote.

As CNN reported:

At very least, Flynn's legal attempt Tuesday night could further drag out a case that's taken several twists since Mueller opened it more than two years ago, lining up Flynn as a key witness against the President. 

Since then, Flynn admitted to his lies under oath and shared several damaging details about the President with investigators, but then gradually tried to walk back his admissions in an attempt to avoid prison.

Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell on Fox News’ “Hannity” said that prosecutors have committed 'one atrocity after another' against Flynn. 

In December of 2017, Flynn was charged by the Justice Department for lying to the FBI. The charges are tied his meeting with Russian officials. 

Each of the two counts carried a penalty of up to five years in jail and Flynn was looking at ten years in jail. Legal experts said the guilty plea was an indication that he was cooperating with the investigation being carried on by Robert Mueller.

After Flynn was charged, URI officials told GoLocal that they were considering rescinding Flynn's degree and then the next day reversed course.

Flynn was named Trump's first National Security Advisor and occupied an office just feet away from the President in the west wing of the White House. In February 2017, it was United States Congressman David Cicilline who called for an investigation into Flynn’s communications with a Russian Ambassador which allegedly took place one month before President Donald Trump took office.

“These are incredibly disturbing allegations. If true, then General Flynn, as a private citizen, aided the Kremlin in undercutting President Obama just months after Russia interfered in our elections,' said Cicilline at the time.

Prior to serving as NSA Flynn was a high profile and highly decorated general.

In September 2011, Flynn was promoted to Lieutenant General and assigned as assistant director of national intelligence in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. On April 17, 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Flynn to be the 18th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Flynn took command of the DIA in July 2012. He simultaneously became commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, and chair of the Military Intelligence Board.

In 2011, Flynn and his brother Charlie were featured in GoLocal for both serving as generals in the United States Army simultaneously. It is reported that it was the first time two brothers achieves such a stature since the Civil War.