On Election Day in 2016, Gen. Michael Flynn penned an opinion article in the Hill. It represented a complete about-face for a man who made his career fighting radical Islamism as he uncritically voiced and amplified Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s positions. To anyone who knew Flynn, it was clear he did not write the piece himself and was essentially acting as an unregistered foreign agent, a charge he denied.

It did not matter. Quickly, it emerged that Flynn had accepted a large honorarium from the Turks to represent their interests. He then registered retroactively as a foreign agent. Flynn’s dishonesty did not directly end his career as national security adviser, but it did put him on the radar for numerous investigations into leveraging his former positions and possible future influence into cash.