[Frontline S2022E04, 2022-10-18, 54 minutes]
How did Michael Flynn go from being an elite soldier overseas to waging a "spiritual war" in America? In collaboration with The Associated Press, FRONTLINE examines how the retired three-star general has emerged as a leader in a far-right movement that puts its brand of Christianity at the center of American civic life and institutions and is attracting election deniers, conspiracists and extremists from around the country.
GENERAL MICHAEL T. FLYNN, U.S. Army (Retired)
This is a life-changing time. If America falls, there's no place to go. How much longer can we last
CLAY CLARK, Co-Founder, ReAwaken America Tour
Ladies and gentlemen, please stand to your feet and greet General
MICHELLE R. SMITH, Correspondent
When I first saw Michael Flynn speak to an audience, it was hard to reconcile who he once was with who he had become.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Tonight, you're going to get an ass-chewing from a general.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
A retired three-star general once hailed as an intelligence genius. Today, he's touring the country as a leader in a far-right movement trying to put its brand of Christianity at the center of civic life and institutions.
MICHAEL FLYNN
We are a faith-based society, and that's in our DNA. It's in the DNA of the United States of America.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
To his critics, he is a conspiracy theorist, a criminal and a traitor.
But within this movement, he is a martyr, a warrior and an evangelist.
MICHAEL FLYNN
I am an absolute product of prayer. Prayer is probably the most powerful weapon system known to man. This is what scares our enemies, OK? The left, the socialists, the Marxists, the communists. This is what scares them.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
How did this respected general return from the battlefields of the war on terror only to see a greater enemy at home
MICHAEL FLYNN
I am not going to turn my country over to my children and my grandchildren. I'm just not going to turn over a communist country to them. No way. No way.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
And where is his crusade headed next
MICHAEL FLYNN
We're here in our land. We have got to start demonstrating even more courage.
God bless you, God bless America and thank you very much. Peace.
MALE ANNOUNCER
Let America, say "amen."
CROWD [in unison]
Amen
MALE ANNOUNCER
Let we the people say "amen!"
CROWD [in unison]
Amen
Michael Flynn's Holy War
MALE VOICE
If you've been paying attention to the media, The Associated Press came out with what can only be described as a hatchet job against Lieutenant General
Produced b
JACQUELINE SOOHEN
PAUL ABOWD
MICHAEL FLYNN
Thanks, Josh.
Reported b
MICHELLE R. SMIT
PAUL ABOWD
RICHARD ROWLEY
MICHAEL FLYNN
There's a darkness that they have. I mean, there's almost like a soullessness to the people that wrote the article.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Anyway. I'll ping you when I get in the office and we'll figure it out. OK. All right. Bye.
Correspondent
MICHELLE R. SMIT
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I've been following Michael Flynn for FRONTLINE and The Associated Press for over a year. A lot of people dismiss Flynn as a fringe figure, but our reporting showed that he's become one of the most prominent right-wing leaders in America.
Written and Directed b
RICHARD ROWLEY
MICHELLE R. SMITH
He's building a movement, headlining rallies that draw anti-vaxxers, election deniers and extremists from around the country. He's building alliances. He's made around 100 political endorsements for this year's elections.
MALE VOICE [on phone]
- partnership with FRONTLINE and the result of a monthslong investigation.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
And he's building a nationwide grassroots operation that's spending millions to advance its agenda.
All right. Well, that's good. It's out.
MALE ANNOUNCER
General Michael Flynn, ladies and gentlemen.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Take a breath.
Our reporting touched a nerve. Messages started to come in almost immediately, and Flynn himself responded in a 90-minute video denouncing it.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Look at the opposition that we are up against. We are in a fight for the very survival of our country, and there has been an infiltration of communists into the federal government. And there are external powers that support them. I haven't mentioned the new world order, which I just did. These are all forces that we are up against. They're going to use every element that they can and this article is among them. And actually it leads to a full documentary that's going to be coming out. And it's going to be, you know, really - it's going to be a really horrible thing.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I've been an AP correspondent in Rhode Island for 17 years, covering local and national stories. Michael Flynn usually refuses to speak with what he calls the "mainstream media." And most of the people close to him won't either.
But Rhode Island, where he's from, is like a small town. And here I'm known as a local reporter.
THOMAS HEANEY, Longtime friend
I just don't think that people dislike Mike. I think they dislike the side he's on. If they ever met him, they wouldn't dislike him, I can tell you that.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
So is this what Middletown High School looked like when you were going here
THOMAS HEANEY
This is exactly what it looked like. [Laughs] It has not changed very much at all.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Tom Heaney has known Flynn most of his life. They joined the Army together, where Heaney eventually retired as a colonel.
THOMAS HEANEY
Fifty-five years we've known each other. We played Little League together, then we ended up in middle school together and then high school and then college.
The mischief that we would get into is probably pretty normal. I know that a couple times that it actually involved the law, and he ended up getting arrested and put in jail overnight.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
The Flynns were Democrats. His father was a retired Army sergeant. His mother was active in the Catholic Church. Heaney says two institutions have been important in Flynn's life: the military and the church.
THOMAS HEANEY
One of the things I think that has helped them deal with what they've had to deal with is their faith. They are very faithful people. Probably one of the reasons why he was inspired to participate in politics is because of his mom. She was very involved in the pro-life movement. She was very active.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
When I started writing about Flynn, Helen always came up.
OK, look at this. So this is Helen Flynn,
She was politically active. She ran for various offices. She was the one who really brought politics into their life and into their family.
She attacked her opponent in the Democratic primary because he had the support of the ACLU, and according to Helen, "fully 90% of its efforts are on behalf of communists."
Helen brought all her kids in to her political activities. If she was doing political work, there were kids there.
At the age of 15, Michael Flynn was on the front lines of America's culture wars. He marched with his family in the first national anti-abortion rallies in Washington, D.C.
JOE FLYNN, Michael Flynn's brother
The first March for Life, we were there. I was probably 7 or 8 years old. And Mike was there, and a couple of other of us were there. We would go every year. We always went around Jan. 23, freezing our butts off, walking up and down Constitution Avenue. And we were in parades, and we would do parades. We had this float, and the float said "life" in all these different languages. "Catholics for Life" was sort of on top of it. You'd ride by people, and most of them would cheer. But you'd get people throwing stuff at you. I mean, it would get crazy. Michael drove the floats. Yeah, he was old enough; I was too young to drive. But yeah, Michael drove those floats many, many times, all over the place.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Joe Flynn works closely with his brother on political projects. I've been in contact with him over the years, but he's now stopped talking to me. When my colleagues at FRONTLINE called him, he reluctantly said yes.
MALE INTERVIEWER
Why did you agree to this interview
JOE FLYNN
I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. [Laughs] I felt like if you're going to do a documentary, our side of the story somewhat needs to be heard.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Joe Flynn wouldn't answer a lot of questions about his brother. But he said the movement Michael Flynn is building today is misunderstood.
JOE FLYNN
This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. I often think myself, I think Helen would be proud of the activities that we're involved in. I think Christians are very involved in the conservative movement. It's no different than it was 30, 40 years ago, especially with Reagan.
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
There's a great spiritual awakening in America, a renewal of the traditional values that have been the bedrock of America's goodness and greatness.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Michael Flynn loves Ronald Reagan. He quotes him constantly.
RONALD REAGAN
There is sin and evil in the world, and we're enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Reagan saw the culture wars and the war against communism as part of the same spiritual battle.
RONALD REAGAN
We can do it, doing together what no one church could do by itself. God bless you, and thank you very much.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
A war at home and a war overseas. The two would become deeply intertwined in
MICHAEL FLYNN
As Ronald Reagan said, and I quote, "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to." This is the last stand on earth.
Michael Flynn
Western Journal
MICHAEL FLYNN
I am a guy who spent my entire career, really, thinking about the enemies that we are going to face, principally overseas.
MALE NEWSREADER
It was an impressive show of force as U.S. paratroopers filled the skies over central Honduras.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
He started out in the 82nd Airborne Division.
MICHAEL FLYNN
In the first era, it was communism in Central America. We had places in the Caribbean. We had problems in Africa.
MALE SOLDIER
The Four Horsemen are forever, and so is Ronald Reagan.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
As a young intelligence officer, Flynn took part in the invasion of Grenada and worked with U.S.-backed right-wing forces in Central America. When he went to Iraq and Afghanistan, his enemy shifted, from communism to what he called "radical Islam."
In Iraq, working under General Stanley McChrystal, he revolutionized counterterrorism operations to deal with the threat of Al Qaeda. He built a reputation as a brilliant officer while serving as the head of intelligence for an elite covert force: the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC.
DOUG WISE, CIA, 1987-2016
My first awareness of
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Doug Wise is a veteran of the CIA who worked closely with JSOC.
DOUG WISE
I spent three decades undercover with CIA as an operator, as a station chief. Service in Afghanistan, the Balkans, South Asia, Iraq. Chief of operational training for CIA, and then ultimately appointed as the deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Mike Flynn then the incumbent director. "Dr. Evil" was my call sign.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Wise was part of the invasion force that entered Baghdad and says he saw Flynn's impact in Iraq firsthand.
DOUG WISE
At that time in Iraq, they had built an operational machine in JSOC to literally triple and quintuple the number of raids and operations that the force could undertake. Once they got that set in motion, it was lightning-fast. This was innovation of the highest order.
JACK MURPHY, 75th Ranger Regiment and Special Forces, 2003-10
I went to Iraq in 2005. It was hard and fast. I can't even count - I lost count, we all did. We probably did 150 raids in a three-month span that summer.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Jack Murphy served in one of Michael Flynn's JSOC units in Iraq, carrying out these accelerated raids.
JACK MURPHY
There were times where they had us rolling out the gate and I had no idea where we were going, and they were like, "We'll get the grid to you." And then as we're driving down one of the highways around Mosul, I'm having to type it into the computer. And then we'd hit that target, and then while we're there there's more grids coming over the radio [laughs].
The guys are already getting back on the vehicles, "Murphy, where are we goin'? Murphy, where are we goin'?" [Laughs] I'm like, "Oh, shit."
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Flynn has said he streamlined intelligence vetting and empowered soldiers on the ground to make quick decisions on taking out targets.
DOUG WISE
You'd have the assault force in the air. Another assault force literally in the aircraft. The initial assault force goes in, pull a guy off of the objective. They'd be interrogating him in the aircraft. "What was your function? What was your mission? Who's your boss?"
MICHELLE R. SMITH
But Flynn also cut out traditional channels for vetting intelligence before acting on it, and Murphy and others say it came with a cost.
JACK MURPHY
These guys would play a game: "Hey, hey. I'm not a terrorist. But I know where a terrorist lives." And they'd lead you on a wild goose chase all over town. Worst case, they try to get you to go kill the uncle they don't like. You know, so - [laughs]. These are all the things we have to be careful about.
NANCY YOUSSEF, The Wall Street Journal
When you're covering these raids, you'd come in after the fact. You would talk to Iraqis about it.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Nancy Youssef is a reporter who was based in Baghdad during Flynn's time at JSOC.
NANCY YOUSSEF
They would say this person was totally innocent or this was a political vendetta, but you're no closer to the truth, right? Because one side can't tell you the basis on which they've conducted that strike, and the other side is telling you this was completely wrong.
JACK MURPHY
At a certain point, it's like the operations take over the intelligence. And because we outstripped that intelligence capability, I think the intelligence we were launching on came to be literally a flip of the coin. It became hit or miss. Maybe it was 50% accurate. What was the net result of hitting these civilian homes, what we would call dry holes, where we accidentally killed somebody's uncle
MICHELLE R. SMITH
JSOC raids were held out as a success for taking out high-value targets, despite the civilian toll.
JACK MURPHY
The question is, OK, this was effective. It worked. But so what? We lost the war.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
After Iraq, Flynn was promoted to head of intelligence for the entire NATO force in Afghanistan. His writings about that time show a growing conviction that the Christian West was locked in a civilizational battle with Islam.
The Field of Fight
By Michael Flynn
MICHAEL FLYNN [reading]
We're in a world war against a messianic mass movement of evil people. Let us accept what we were founded upon, a Judeo-Christian ideology built on a moral set of rules and laws. Let us not fear, but instead fight those who want to impose Sharia law and their radical Islamist views. There is no escape from this war. Our enemies will not permit that. We will either win or lose, and at present, we look like losers.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Jack Murphy remembers other soldiers who embraced worldviews similar to Flynn's.
JACK MURPHY
Our platoon got together. The chaplain got up and gave his little speech and told us that we were fighting a religious war and make no mistake, men, this a religious war.
My team sergeant in Special Forces was an interesting guy. And I liked him. Like me he had come from Ranger Battalion. I listened to him. I respected him. He would play this documentary and it was all new world order stuff and conspiracy stuff.
Alex Jone
Endgame
ALEX JONES
In the near future, Earth is dominated by a powerful world government.
JACK MURPHY
And I remember watching it and just being fascinated by it. I asked him to borrow it and I watched it myself. I was like, "Whoa, man, this is some crazy stuff." And that was my introduction to Alex Jones.
ALEX JONES
Your new world order will fall. The answer to 1984 is 1776.
JACK MURPHY
Jeremy continued on this path and he was at the Capitol on 2021-01-06 with the Oath Keepers.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Jeremy Brown would end up getting arrested and charged for his role in the insurrection. He calls himself a political prisoner.
JEREMY BROWN
My name is Jeremy Brown. Inmate 1875858. And this is my warning to America. De oppresso liber. Liberty or death.
JACK MURPHY
We haven't even begun to cope with the social repercussions of fighting two wars, two failed wars. And at the absence of an enemy to fight, some veterans decide to fight each other. And you hear them start talking about civil war and talking about politics in the most dire sorts of existential terms. That it's us against them.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In 2012, Flynn returned to Washington. He was promoted again ...
MALE NEWSREADER
Flynn will now head up the agency ...
MICHELLE R. SMITH
- to head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the DIA. But his increasingly politicized worldview put him at odds with the Obama administration.
Doug Wise briefly served as his second-in-command.
DOUG WISE
So when I show up at DIA, I find a
MALE INTERVIEWER
You are known for your frankness ...
NANCY YOUSSEF
People are saying he's brash, and that his leadership approach isn't good. And then we start to hear the phrase "Flynn facts." The most famous Flynn fact is [laughs] "Iran has killed more Americans than Al Qaeda." And at the time people said, "But that's demonstratively not true. Al Qaeda was behind 9/11."
And he didn't back down from it. He stood by it, and I think that's really when this idea of Flynn facts took off.
DOUG WISE, Former Deputy Director, DIA
Every analyst that ever briefed him came away with a Flynn fact. Yeah. Things that were not consistent with real facts, real intelligence and common sense that Flynn passionately believed in. That's what a Flynn fact was, and he had a lot of them.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Flynn was forced out of DIA in 2014. He left the military and formed an alliance with Donald Trump in the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton. For Flynn, the war had come home.
MICHAEL FLYNN
We must recognize that America has enemies in our homeland and abroad. Radical Islam, metastasizing throughout the world.
NANCY YOUSSEF
I think we always treated these as far away wars that would have no second- or third-order effects on the United States.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Our way of life is in jeopardy. Our very existence is threatened.
NANCY YOUSSEF
But when I look at Mike Flynn I think those wars changed us, too.
MICHAEL FLYNN
We do not need a weak, spineless president who is more concerned about issuing apologies than in protecting Americans.
CROWD [chanting]
Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up
MICHAEL FLYNN
"Lock her up." That's right. That's right, lock her up! Exactly right. There's nothing wrong with that.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
After Trump's election, he made Flynn his national security adviser. It was, in many ways, the apex of Flynn's career.
MALE NEWSREADER
Our top story tonight: A lightning-fast fall from grace tonight for Trump's national security adviser.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Flynn only lasted weeks before he was forced out after lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.
FEMALE NEWSREADER
Michael Flynn has been forced out, but the firestorm over his resignation has just begun.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I started reporting on Flynn after he got fired and was being investigated in the Mueller probe. We thought he was probably in Middletown, and I'm in Rhode Island. I contributed to a story early on and then it just continued from there. His siblings launched a legal defense fund, and they were administering that and doing PR for that.
JOE FLYNN
I definitely think the family was persecuted. Absolutely, they were persecuted. It was difficult, it was very difficult. It was terrible.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Flynn ended up pleading guilty to a felony. But after Trump lost the 2020 election, he pardoned Flynn.
MALE NEWSREADER
General Flynn, recently pardoned by the president of the United States ...
MICHELLE R. SMITH
After Flynn got pardoned, it really opened the floodgates.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Number one, President Trump won.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
He was fully and openly engaged in working to sow doubt about the election.
MICHAEL FLYNN
He could take military capabilities, and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
He suggested that Trump could seize voting machines. He floated the idea of martial law. He called it a coup in progress.
MICHAEL FLYNN
I mean, these people out there talking about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times, Greg.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I see the pardon as a turning point. It's the beginning of his next chapter.
Flynn championed bogus claims about ballot tampering and foreign interference. He became a chief promoter of the "Stop the Steal" effort, which culminated in the 2021-01-06 insurrection at the Capitol.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMIE RASKIN (D), 2021-01-06 Committee
Michael Flynn is part of what I see as an extremist element surrounding Donald Trump.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Congressman Jamie Raskin has examined Flynn's role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
JAMIE RASKIN
He tried to legitimate and validate the idea of imposing martial law. The idea of getting the Department of Defense to seize the election machinery and then rerun the election. So, Flynn played an important role in the outreach to the extreme right.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN, Former Senior Technical Advisor, January 6 Committee
Flynn has been on our radar for some time. I mean, from the beginning.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Denver Riggleman was the senior technical adviser to the 2021-01-06 Committee.
MALE INTERVIEWER
You've seen
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
We've seen a lot of phone records, yeah. But what's interesting is we really didn't need Mike Flynn's phone records as much as his assistant's.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Riggleman is a former Republican congressman and military intelligence officer.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
What was most interesting, when you're looking at call detail records or text messages, is that there was a plan.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
The plan to overturn the election had been underway long before 2021-01-06. Our reporting shows that after Flynn's pardon, people he was working with moved to obtain voting records and then produced an infamous report alleging voter fraud in Antrim County, Michigan.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
So when you're talking about Antrim County, you're talking about fake data that's been presented as real data.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
The report was widely discredited, but Flynn cited it publicly, and a lawyer he'd worked with, Sidney Powell, used it in court to try to overturn the election results.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
Then money is pushed behind that data into the separate social media platforms that say the election was stolen. It has this sort of veneer of respectability or technical acumen, right
A lot of the individuals that were involved with Antrim County or other inspections, many of these individuals are directly connected to Flynn.
Phil Waldron
Your Wake Up Cal
PHIL WALDRON
Multiple groups of concerned American came together because they all observed something incredible in the 2020 general elections.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Phil Waldron served under Flynn in military intelligence. He worked with the group that put out the report and used it to challenge the election.
PHIL WALDRON
This was included in the forensics report on Central Lake Township in Antrim, Michigan.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
So you really had a multipronged attack on the American public. And it's layered beautifully.
MICHAEL FLYNN
I don't deny that we've had elections. I deny that we have fair elections. That's what I deny.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In his video response to our reporting, Flynn took issue with the term "election denier," saying it was part of a misinformation campaign against him.
MICHAEL FLYNN
And they're going to try to bash us across the head and shoulders with every frame that they can put against us and every form of dis- and misinformation.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
He said he knows a misinformation campaign when he sees one.
MICHAEL FLYNN
I also have a level of expertise in these types of efforts, OK? Because having served on battlefields at certain levels, we would have misinformation, disinformation, psy-op campaigns going on to get audiences, to get the enemy to think one way, to get the friendlies to think one way. That's a constant of warfare.
We're in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country. We will win. We will win. Nothing, nothing can resist the power of prayer.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Leading up to 2021-01-06, Flynn was working behind the scenes ...
MALE PROTESTER
Say no to communism
MICHELLE R. SMITH
- and also headlining rallies and fueling protests.
MICHAEL FLYNN
We're inside the walls of the deep state. And there is evil and there is corruption and there's light and truth.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
During a day of rallies and protests in Washington in December 2020, he framed the fight in terms of God, patriotism and politics.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Inside of this barricade, we're going to knock those walls down, OK? We're going to knock those walls down. So be proud, be proud as Christians, be proud as patriots.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Later that night, there was violence in the streets.
RIOTERS [chanting]
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Flynn was in Washington on Jan. 5.
MICHAEL FLYNN
This is Jan. 5. We're about to go into another one of these constitutional dates, 2021-01-06, tomorrow.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Michael Flynn was at the Willard and he was interviewed by Alex Jones.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Donald Trump will continue to be the president of the United States for the next four years. There's no doubt in my mind.
ALEX JONES
Well, you're about to give a big speech out here to this million-person crowd.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
That same evening, Flynn spoke to a very large crowd in Freedom Plaza. His brother and sister and his son were up on stage with him.
MICHAEL FLYNN
In our DNA, we feel freedom, we bleed freedom and we will sacrifice for freedom.
The members of Congress, those of you who are feeling weak tonight, those of you that don't have the moral fiber in your body, get some tonight, because tomorrow we the people are going to be here. And we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie
MICHELLE R. SMITH
We've seen the images countless times. But looking at them now, two things still strike me: the camouflage and tactical gear, signs of military discipline and organization. And the crosses, prayers and Christian imagery, both in D.C. and around the country that day.
Denver Riggleman's team analyzed a vast amount of call data and messages from 2021-01-06. He told us that those themes rose to the top.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
This idea that this was spiritual warfare, it's not even an undertone. It was almost right out and hit you in the face that this was religious warfare, and really that is the baseline of this is this "good against evil" apocalyptic message.
MALE 2021-01-06 RIOTER
Jesus Christ, we evoke your name! Amen
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
I think a lot of these belief systems are baked in now to a massive part of the GOP base. You still have new world order, global cabals, groomers, all the stuff that goes back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and blood libel and just keep on going, right? And so I believe that this sort of pushing for more of a Christian nationalist bent to our politics I think is something that's actually increasing. I think 2021-01-06 was a great practice run for some of these individuals on multiple fronts.
JAMIE RASKIN
Our democracy's under attack. We are under siege by a movement that has proven itself willing to engage in violence to overthrow our elections and our institutions. I want to see democracy survive.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
It wasn't until earlier this year that the 2021-01-06 Committee got a chance to ask Flynn about what happened that day.
REPRESENTATIVE LIZ CHENEY (R) Wyoming
General Flynn, do you believe the violence on 2021-01-06 was justified
MICHAEL FLYNN'S ATTORNEY
Can we have a minute
LIZ CHENEY
Yes.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
Sitting in that interview with
LIZ CHENEY
Do you believe the violence on 2021-01-06 was justified legally
MICHAEL FLYNN
I said, I - I said the Fifth.
LIZ CHENEY
Do you believe the violence on 2021-01-06 was justified morally
MICHAEL FLYNN
Take the Fifth.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
There's no military officer on earth that has an ounce of salt that would plead the Fifth to questions that are the baseline for protecting our Constitution.
LIZ CHENEY
Do you believe in the peaceful transition of power in the United States of America
MICHAEL FLYNN
The Fifth.
DENVER RIGGLEMAN
That should tell everybody what they need to know about former general Mike Flynn.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I'm in Salt Lake City trying to talk to Michael Flynn, who has only increased in influence since 2021-01-06. He's on tour, regularly drawing thousands. There are anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers. There are election deniers. There are some QAnon people. There are some anti-government booths. All these different groups are merging together. Flynn has been working very hard to build this movement. He's spoken at more than 60 events, by our count.
He's a huge celebrity. He's treated like a rock star. He really is.
MALE TALK SHOW HOST
We have America's general with us.
FEMALE TALK SHOW HOST
This is General Michael Flynn.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Outside of his role mobilizing this movement, Flynn has become a player in Republican politics. He's campaigned for candidates around the country as one of the most sought-after endorsements for MAGA Republicans, perhaps second only to Trump himself.
I wanted to ask him about his political objectives.
MALE SPEAKER 1
I think it's a no.
MALE SPEAKER 2
No, he's not interested.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
But his staff turns me away here in Salt Lake.
So we traveled to the state where he made his first endorsement after the 2021-01-06 attack: Oklahoma.
PASTOR JACKSON LAHMEYER, (R) Oklahoma candidate for U.S. Senate
I believe that the Lord was calling me to do it. I did not hear the audible thundering voice of God saying, "You've got to run for the U.S. Senate." That wasn't what it was. General Flynn called me and he said, "You're going to run." And it was in that moment I realized he's a general, and when he gives an order, the best thing to do is probably say, "Yes, sir."
MICHAEL FLYNN [in campaign ad]
I'm General
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Jackson Lahmeyer was a long-shot candidate trying to unseat an incumbent Republican senator.
JACKSON LAHMEYER [in campaign ad]
Thank you so much, General Flynn. I appreciate it.
MICHAEL FLYNN [in campaign ad]
Absolutely. God bless.
JACKSON LAHMEYER
General Flynn has just been a constant. "Do this. Do that. Stay encouraged. Fight, fight, fight." Just constantly giving wisdom. He's a living martyr. He's a warrior. He's a hero. And General Flynn is going to be a hero among heroes when it comes to United States history.
MALE EVANGELICAL PREACHER
God spoke to me and said Tulsa is a light to the nation. And Oklahoma is a light to the nation. It starts with Jackson Lahmeyer. It starts here. Lord spoke to me and said, "Knight him, because I call him Jackson the Righteous."
CLAY CLARK, Co-Founder, ReAwaken America Tour
I'm Clay Clark, and I'm the person you want to talk to the least tonight. Thank you.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Clay Clark hosted this campaign event. He co-founded Flynn's cross-country speaking tour.
CLAY CLARK
General Flynn is one of the only, I would say, top 10 most well-known conservative leaders willing to talk about the transhumanism agenda of Klaus Schwab and the Great Reset.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Clark articulates a mix of conspiracy theories that vilify people including Barack Obama, Bill Gates and the founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab.
CLAY CLARK
The top adviser for Klaus Schwab openly states that he can hack humans, he wants to end free will, he wants to eliminate the use of money, he wants to move to a one-world government, and no one's talking about it! General Flynn will. And I think it's because General Flynn only fears the Lord as well.
MALE EVANGELICAL PREACHER
There's candidates, and then there's God's pick. So let's pray this together. Father God, we come to you now in the name of Jesus.
CROWD
Father God, we come to you now in the name of Jesus.
MALE EVANGELICAL PREACHER
And we pray for the candidates you chose.
CROWD
We pray for the candidates you chose.
MALE EVANGELICAL PREACHER
Amen.
JACKSON LAHMEYER
It's a spiritual battle. It's not a battle between Republicans and the Democrats. It's a battle between good and evil, and you've got to pick a side. And I believe we're going to be successful.
MALE INTERVIEWER
And if you're not, what does America look like
JACKSON LAHMEYER
We'll go into 1,000 years of darkness.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Lahmeyer would not be successful in his primary challenge.
REV. DR. JACQUI LEWIS, Middle Collegiate Church, NY
It is our calling to disrupt fake Christianity. I'm going to say that again. It's our calling to disrupt fake Christianity. And we're not going to be nice about it.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is part of a coalition of religious leaders that opposes what they see as a hijacking of Christianity by figures like Flynn.
JACQUI LEWIS
Mike Flynn is in a movement that is designed to impose a small minority of Christian ethics on the rest of the nation.
We are not going to allow fascism to hijack our love. Somebody say "amen."
CONGREGATION
Amen.
JACQUI LEWIS
Somebody say "amen" again
CONGREGATION
Amen
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Lewis is troubled by Flynn's volatile mix of politics, Christianity and conspiracy theories.
JACQUI LEWIS
It is a battle for the soul of America, using the church as a tool, using a part of the church as a tool.
SAMUEL PERRY, University of Oklahoma
The vision of Christian nationalism is that we need to take the country back for Christian priorities, Christian values. We need to make America Christian again.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Professor Samuel Perry has written extensively about the ideology known as Christian nationalism and the threat it poses to democracy.
SAMUEL PERRY
My parents are evangelicals. I went to a flagship evangelical seminary, training to be a minister. I would, in many ways, describe myself as an evangelical. I'm very much speaking and writing to my people.
Mike Flynn has emerged as a martyr and a mascot for the far-right contingent of the Christian nationalist movement in the United States.
Christian nationalism as an ideology sees threats both without and within. And the primary enemy for Christian nationalism is not different religions, it is leftism.
MICHAEL FLYNN
This idea about Christian nationalism ...
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In his video response to us, Flynn took issue with the term Christian nationalism.
MICHAEL FLYNN
They are projecting what they are on us. And so this idea of Christian nationals, it's like we're a bunch of Nazis from the 1930s or something. That's not - that is so far from the truth. I want people to go back to two documents. One is the Bible and one is the Constitution. And you cannot dispute those.
GOVERNOR RON DeSANTIS, (R) Florida
We need people all over the country to be willing to put on that full armor of God to stand firm against the left's schemes. You'll be met with flaming arrows, but the shield of faith will stop them.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
The Christian nationalist message Flynn pushes was resonating when I attended CPAC, the big meeting of the nation's conservatives.
But Flynn didn't appear on the stage.
JACKSON LAHMEYER
Florida is kind of like the breeding center for patriotism right now.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I found him across the street with his brother Joe, announcing the launch of a new initiative.
JOE FLYNN
Operation Eagle Wings is going to focus on nine key states.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
After the insurrection, Flynn and those around him immediately began talking about the future and how to influence elections down to the local level.
JOE FLYNN
- to make sure that the errors and fraud that took place in 2020 do not happen again.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Out of Flynn's 99 endorsements, we found that 80% have spread lies or sown doubt about the 2020 elections. About two dozen were at the Capitol for Jan. 5 or 6. At least 38 have used Christian nationalist rhetoric.
After the press conference, Flynn finally agreed to sit down with me.
MICHAEL FLYNN
I don't even know why I'm talking to you, honestly. And I hope this is recording. Is it recording? Yeah. I don't know why I'm talking to you, I really don't.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
You've been doing a speaking tour. You're endorsing candidates. You're very busy. What are you fighting for
GENERAL MICHAEL T. FLYNN, U.S. Army (Retired)
I am fighting for our constitutional rights. And, you know, in a big way, to save America, I guess. Because I like to think about all of the people that came before us and all the sacrifices to create this great experiment in democracy. We're going to lose it. We're going to lose it. We're in a moment of crisis now. Nation states rise and fall. So, where are we? Where is the United States in the arc of history
MICHELLE R. SMITH
During our interview, Flynn drew on a familiar tactic: attacking the media.
MICHAEL FLYNN
AP is a horrendous organization, OK? And you've been attacking me relentlessly, for no good reason, ever, OK, for the last five years. So you want to know what am I after? I'm after trying to say, get off this high horse. The media has done such a disservice to - frankly, to democracy.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
A lot of people hear your rhetoric and they say you're a Christian nationalist. Are you
MICHAEL FLYNN
What is that? I'm an Irish Catholic. [Laughs]
FEMALE VOICE
I think we should skip that question. He's an Irish Catholic general who served 33 ...
MICHAEL FLYNN
I'm a follower of Jesus. How's that
FEMALE VOICE
- 33 years in the military serving his country.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
OK.
MICHAEL FLYNN
Yeah. Yeah.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
OK, OK.
MICHAEL FLYNN
That was a stupid question.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
It was
MICHAEL FLYNN
Yeah, to ask of me, because that means that you really have not studied Mike Flynn.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Well, it's an opportunity for you to address it.
MICHAEL FLYNN
No, no, it's a - it's really - it was really a dumb question.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
OK.
Flynn eventually got so upset with my questions that he got up and walked off.
MICHAEL FLYNN
This is why AP - see, AP won't - this - so because of this interview, because of this interview, I will never talk to AP again. That was dumb.
FEMALE VOICE
Why don't we go into another area
MICHAEL FLYNN
That was dumb. I'll never speak to AP again because of this interview.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
OK.
MICHAEL FLYNN
That's it. I'm done, I'm done. I'm done.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
I've continued to correspond with Flynn, but he doesn't really answer my questions.
After the insurrection, Flynn moved to Florida. He's made it the base of operations for a well-financed network of organizations. I've tracked these groups through campaign finance records and corporate and charity filings. Some of them are nonprofits. Some of them we don't know what they are. Those include America's Future, Resilient Patriot, Tower 1 LLC. There is also Digital Soldiers Media, which changed its name to Manasota Shores Real Estate. So I made a little map and drove to all of them. Just to get a sense of what was happening.
This says America's Future, principal address 1460 South McCall Road.
America's Future is a nonprofit group started in 1946. Some of the people who have been involved with it are Phyllis Schlafly, who is a conservative firebrand, and General Singlaub. Singlaub was a big anti-communist.
MALE TENANT
Number 13? I don't think we have a 13.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
OK.
And then Michael Flynn became chairman.
I don't see a 13 anywhere.
It works very closely with the America Project, the largest and most active group. Flynn's brother Joe is president. I found a charity filing from 2021 that projected it would spend $50 million that year, although Joe Flynn told me it ended up being much less.
One of the groups Flynn is supporting is a place called The Hollow, in Sarasota County. He cites it as an example of his slogan that "local action has national impact." I try to check it out from the outskirts of the surrounding nature preserve.
I'm hearing what sounds like automatic weapons. From not very far away.
The Hollow emphasizes its family-friendly activities. It has waterslides. It even holds weddings. But I'd seen posts online about right-wing political events there with extremists like the Proud Boys, and it had offered weapons training for kids as young as 6. Michael Flynn himself was often there. And I thought, what is going on here
I wasn't able to get any closer, but my colleagues at FRONTLINE managed to return for a tightly controlled tour.
VICTOR MELLOR SR., Owner, The Hollow
We're in the cave. This is the introduction to the kids when they first get here, because their cell phones won't work. And then, when they get into the meeting area, they'll at least have somewhat of a clear slate of a mindset.
It's General Flynn, and I think he's a important part of our country's history, and I think the future will show that.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Vic Mellor says he started to work with Flynn soon after he moved to Florida.
VICTOR MELLOR
The cross was actually General Flynn's idea, to do an outside place so they can have some services and stuff.
There's no way to argue with General Flynn. I would say he's a genius with what he can do, with how he does it.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Sometimes Vic makes The Hollow sound like a children's camp. And other times, it's part of a high-stakes battle to save the country.
VICTOR MELLOR
I'm worried that, you know, this country's going to turn into another Venezuela. This whole socialist, communist mindset of how people are equal, that's how they start the propaganda with it, but how does it end up
CAROL LERNER
They have a petting zoo, a water slide. They have a bouncy house. It's a great place for kids. But then they also have the children learning to shoot guns. Children as young as 6.
The Hollow gun safety classes
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Carol Lerner is a local school board activist. She became concerned about The Hollow after she saw Flynn and Proud Boys at an anti-mask event there that attracted hundreds of families.
CAROL LERNER
It was interesting looking at Vic Mellor, his Facebook - which now no longer exists. He scrubbed it.
Here we have Vic Mellor and his son on the steps of the Capitol on 2021-01-06.
He posts that General Flynn and his brother Joe visited The Hollow.
"There's a war going on right now. I've pledged all our resources to Flynn in this battle."
Flynn's arrival here in Sarasota tremendously changed things at The Hollow, but even just broadly. The Proud Boys got very involved. They were kind of the work crew for a lot of these events.
This is a photo of General Flynn with James Hoel, known within the Proud Boys as J-Bird.
At The Hollow, a lot of them participated in the insurrection. James Hoel, Scott and Worrell were part of the Proud Boy group that broke through the barriers.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Scott and Worrell both pleaded not guilty to federal charges. James Hoel hasn't been charged. Neither has Vic Mellor.
VICTOR MELLOR
I'm proud of that day. I am, I just am. I'm proud Americans stood up for what's right. I don't know, it was euphoric for me. I had to be part of that, all right? I don't know what this has to do with The Hollow, but you know, that's ...
What I do here is a local - you know, just like General Flynn says, local action. And I believe in that 100%.
CAROL LERNER
Flynn is putting money into local elections, and the Proud Boys came out in force.
JAMES HOEL
My name is James Hoel ...
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In recent school board elections, Proud Boys backed a slate of candidates. They had begun showing up at meetings, and even the school board chair's home.
MALE VOICE 1 [over bullhorn]
Beware of Dirty Shirley. Shirley, come on, out Shirley. We would like a redress of grievances with you and your illegal actions. This is the line we will die on.
MALE VOICE 2
That's right! No to vaccines! No to masks
VICTOR MELLOR
You see what's going on. I mean, you have to see that, right? I mean, society is just falling apart, you know.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Vic Mellor and one of Flynn's groups funded a PAC that put out ads calling school board candidates names like "baby killer" or BLM and antifa rioters.
VICTOR MELLOR
The future America's going to look back at what's going on right now. This is what they're going to talk about. Maybe not even World War II. And I firmly believe that. We are at a testing stage of our country. We just are. We'll just see how the elections go, OK? If they try to steal it again, we will be at a new level of - will be unprecedented. And then, I'm glad I'm in Florida is all I have to say, OK
MICHAEL FLYNN
We're on the battlefield that I believe is the most important battlefield, which is the local battlefield.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In his video response to our reporting, Flynn explained his focus on local politics.
MICHAEL FLYNN
You don't want to allow the enemy to choose the terrain to fight on. The terrain that I have chosen to fight on is the local battlefield, the local terrain. And I think that that's the terrain that will win the day.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In Sarasota, the Proud Boy-backed slate swept the school board elections. And
MALE ANNOUNCER
Ladies and gentlemen, please stand on your feet and greet America's general, General Michael Flynn
SAMUEL PERRY
His whole life is really a story of culture war, from start to finish. From his mother, who really birthed him into this pro-life movement, up to becoming a foot soldier in Reagan's proxy wars against Marxists, to fighting the global war on terror against this radical Islamic threat. And to now, as a spiritual warrior.
MICHAEL FLYNN
And is this an awakening in the biblical sense? Is this a spiritual awakening? You bet it is.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
We'd followed Michael Flynn's holy war across many battlefields, from the culture wars of his youth in Rhode Island to the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan to here, under the revival tent in rural New York.
MICHAEL FLYNN
This is where our nation is. We are at the edge. Some of our country is already down into the abyss.
MICHELLE R. SMITH
In Flynn's version of America, the war has come home.
MICHAEL FLYNN
There is a spiritual war and there is a political war. They're going on in this country right now.