A colonel fired by Trump offered to prosecute Michael Flynn by court-martial for calling for a military coup in the US

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A colonel fired by Trump offered to prosecute Michael Flynn by court-martial for calling for a military coup in the US
In this Feb. 11, 2014, file photo, then-Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.Lauren Victoria Burke/AP
  • Yevgeny Vindman offered to court-martial Michael Flynn over his apparent call for a military coup.
  • Flynn suggested over the weekend that a Myanmar-style military coup "should happen here."
  • Vindman, a member of the US Army's legal arm, said the remarks were "seditious."
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Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman offered to court-martial Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's former national security advisor, after Flynn appeared to call for a military coup in the United States.

"With these seditious remarks Comrade Flynn may have crossed the line for recall to active duty and court-martial," Vindman said on Twitter on Monday.

Vindman, who's part of the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, the legal arm of the Army that comprises serving officers, added, "As a JAG I'm qualified and also happy to prosecute this case."

Vindman is the twin brother of Alexander Vindman, the retired Army lieutenant colonel who came to prominence in 2019 after testifying before Congress about Trump's dealings with Ukraine. The Trump White House fired Yevgeny Vindman in February 2020.

Flynn made the controversial comments on Sunday at a conference in Dallas where several prominent QAnon conspiracy theorists were in attendance. The footage was posted on social media.

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An audience member had asked him "why what happened in Myanmar can't happen here." Myanmar's military in February overthrew the country's elected government and imprisoned its leader.

"No reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That's right," Flynn responded.

Flynn later denied that he had called for a coup.

"I am no stranger to media manipulating my words and therefore let me repeat my response to a question asked at the conference: There is no reason it (a coup) should happen here (in America)," he wrote on Telegram, the Daily Mail reported.

Stephen Vladeck, an expert in national-security law at the University of Texas School of Law, said on Twitter that while Flynn is a retired Army officer, he's still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

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"The constitutionality of jurisdiction over retirees for post-retirement offenses is something we're currently challenging in the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces & the D.C. Circuit," Vladeck said.

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