The former national security adviser to President Donald Trump and his son, Mike Flynn Jr, would have been paid up to $15 million for delivering Gulen to Turkey, according to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.
Ankara has repeatedly called for Gulen to be extradited to Turkey from the United States to face charges of ordering the failed coup bid.
Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile since 1999, strongly denies the accusations of involvement.
Hand over Gulen for jailed pastor, Erdogan tells US
FBI agents investigated at least four individuals about a meeting held in December 2016, during the presidential transition, at the 21 Club in New York City, where Flynn met representatives of the Turkish government.
That meeting was a follow-up to a secret September 19 meeting attended by former CIA director James Woolsey, who said Flynn and others discussed “a covert step in the dead of night to whisk this guy away”.
Flynn, who previously head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, became the White House national security advisor after Trump took office on January 20, 2017.
But he was forced to resign three weeks later over his Russia contacts. Flynn has denied doing anything improper.
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