Lori and Valerie Flynn, Michael Flynn’s wife and sister-in-law, are suing CNN for defamation.
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Michael Flynn’s family kept money donated to his legal fund, according to new court documents.Filings from CNN revealed testimony by Flynn’s sister, Barbara Flynn Redgate.Flynn’s wife, Lori, and sister-in-law, Valerie, are suing CNN and accusing the network of defamation.
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s family fundraised for his legal defense fund from QAnon supporters and then kept the extra money once his lawyers were paid off, according to new court filings unsealed in a defamation case.
The court documents — filed by CNN as part of a defamation lawsuit brought by Flynn’s wife, Lori, and sister-in-law, Valerie, against the network — cite deposition by Flynn’s sister, Barbara Flynn Redgate, who was a trustee of Flynn’s legal fund.
Semafor first reported on the unsealed documents.
Lori and Valerie Flynn allege that in 2021 CNN defamed them by airing a clip it said was of Flynn taking an “oath” connected to the QAnon conspiracy theory while his family members stand beside him with their right hands raised.
The unsealed court documents were part of CNN’s attempt to have the defamation case tossed.
Flynn Redgate, who oversaw donations to Flynn’s legal fund, agreed in testimony that she “didn’t mind taking money from people who [used QAnon] hashtags” as long as they were “directing [people] to the legal defense fund,” the court documents state.
“Barbara testified that, once legal fees were paid, the Flynns themselves received the remainder of the funds,” the filing from CNN says.
Flynn is a retired US Army lieutenant general and Donald Trump ally who briefly served as the president’s national security adviser and later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017.
The retired general and his family began garnering donations in 2017 while Flynn was facing a federal investigation over the 2016 election.
The Flynn family ultimately pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fund, according to Semafor.
Jared Roberts, an attorney representing the Flynn family members, did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
In a comment to Semafor, Roberts said CNN has “resorted to inappropriate mischaracterization of deposition testimony and the facts.”
“We do not intend to fight this case in the media and we will make our response according to the scheduling order of the court and in our opposition brief,” Roberts told the outlet.
Representatives for CNN did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The CNN report at the center of the suit primarily focused on a QAnon conference, but also featured the aforementioned clip of the apparent “oath.”
Flynn’s brother and another sister-in-law are also suing CNN in a separate case still pending in New York federal court, according to Semafor.
In the court filings, CNN alleges that Flynn and his family leaned into the conspiracy theorist community and used them for fundraising.
When a QAnon post in June 2020 shared the oath, the network noted in the filing, that Michael Flynn changed his Twitter profile to include the hashtag “TakeTheOath.”
In a recording of a phone call between Flynn and GOP lawyer Lin Wood released in 2021, Flynn said he believed QAnon is “total nonsense,” and baselessly claimed that the pro-Trump conspiracy theory is a disinformation campaign created by the CIA.
Flynn also sat for a sworn deposition in his family’s case against CNN, documents show, but his deposition remains sealed.