Former Trump Administration National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. (Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI Friday about his contacts with the Russian ambassador--but Suffolk law professor Rosanna Cavallaro says there's more coming to this story.
"They would not allow a plea to this without him trading for something else--information about other misconduct--and so that's really the other shoe that we're waiting to drop," she told WBZ NewsRadio.
Prosecutors said the former general falsely stated to the FBI that he didn't talk about sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
"This is what one refers to in my field as a Martha Stewart problem," former prosecutor Robert Peabody told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karyn Regal. "Where you're interviewed, but you don't tell the truth, and they can prove it. That's a federal offense, lying to a federal official."
Cavallaro said she thinks there's a lot we don't know yet, and that Flynn may have cut a deal to avoid more charges.
"I think what we can guess is that these communications that he had with the Russian ambassador and acknowledges in this plea are not the only things that have been going on that we're unaware of," Cavallaro said. "So now we have multiple communications that he's acknowledging, and at the same time, there's very little here. Because we know, following this from the past few weeks, that there's all kinds of allegations relating to other conduct with Turkey and with deals relating to the Middle East, and so the fact that he's pleading to just this suggests that they're sort of holding this over his head while he cooperates."
Peabody, a former State Prosecutor, assistant US Attorney, and criminal defense attorney, said this is an extraordinary 180 for a public servant.
"It's a felony, so it's significant," he said. "It exposes him to prison, certainly, under the circumstances of this case. It's a planned plea, obviously this has been negotiated. It's unclear whether or not he's cooperating with Attorney Muller and his team on this. There's probably a likelihood he is, because they worked out a negotiation as opposed to being indicted like Mr. [former Trump campaign manager Paul] Manafort, and having to appear under arrest."
Flynn is the first Trump administration figure to be charged in special counsel Robert Muller's wide-ranging investigation of the administration and campaign's ties to Russia.
Cavallaro said he's also the most important one to be wrapped up in the investigation so far.
"While we were able to have the Trump administration characterizing [former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George] Papadopoulos as a minor player, nobody knew him, a volunteer, we really cannot have anyone say that Flynn is anything but central to the brand-new Trump administration."
"He's a significantly highly-placed individual who can speak knowledgeably about what was going on in the White House," Peabody said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karyn Regal reports