A CNN contributor alleged that former Trump administration national security advisor Michael Flynn had struck a deal with the FBI, only to later clarify she had no evidence to back her claim.
Harvard professor and former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem made the claim late Saturday night.
"The name I mention often on the show, Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser," she said. "It is starting to look like from my sources and also from open reporting, that Mike Flynn is the one who may have a deal with the FBI, and that's why we have not heard from him for some time."
The accusation quickly advanced among left-leaning Twitter users after Kayyem tweeted out video of the segment.
This is important, and @juliettekayyem is smart and credible. If Trump aides like Flynn cooperate with the FBI, then we may get the truth. https://t.co/NFqcBdfUEr
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 25, 2017
(THREAD) BREAKING: Harvard professor and @CNN political analyst Juliette Kayyem says, per sources, Michael Flynn may have flipped on Trump. pic.twitter.com/kkG4h4gqvw
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 25, 2017
#Flynn struck a deal with FBI by flipping on #Trump. #Nunes's blood is now in the water. https://t.co/jk5aEf19Jr
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 26, 2017
But others were skeptical. Kayyem had alluded to "open reporting" that Flynn was dealing with the FBI, but the only public reporting to that effect came from a highly suspect liberal blog.
In a Facebook post the next day, Kayyem addressed the questions in a Facebook post.
"I did not say on this segment that I have any confirmation that he is actually cooperating or that I have talked to anyone who does," she wrote. "My informed analysis of this case is based on my years of experience in the national security arena."