President Trump recently got an ominous signal from former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s lawyers: they would no longer discuss Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation with the Trump legal team, after previously sharing information with one another, presumably a sign the early campaign surrogate is cooperating with Mueller’s team and potentially in the process of negotiating a deal. “Defense lawyers frequently share information during investigations, but they must stop when doing so would pose a conflict of interest,” the New York Times notes. “It is unethical for lawyers to work together when one client is cooperating with prosecutors and another is still under investigation.”

Flynn, perhaps more than anyone else in Trump World, seemed to be in the most overt legal peril from the outset of the Russia investigation. The retired three-star general had known contacts with Russia, including sitting next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a 2015 event in Moscow just months before joining the Trump campaign, and during the presidential transition, tipping off Moscow that the incoming administration would reverse Obama-imposed sanctions. Flynn’s consulting company, the Flynn Intel Group, was also discovered to have failed to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for lobbying work done on behalf of Turkish interests. Investigators are now focusing on one of Flynn’s partners at the now-dissolved company, Bijan Kian, as part of an effort to see what other contacts Flynn may have failed to disclose. Over the course of the Russia probe, it was discovered Flynn failed to include payments from Russian-linked companies and organizations on his financial disclosure forms.

Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara:

Former campaign head Paul Manafort was indicted last month on a number of financial allegations dating back to his work with a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party. Simultaneously, it was revealed Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had struck a plea deal in return for his playing ball with investigators. Flynn’s potential cooperation, however, could be far more damaging for the president because of the length and depth of his involvement with the campaign. He joined the Trump campaign early—in Feb. 2016—and was intimately involved as a national security adviser through the election, the transition, and the early days of the Trump White House.

“Mr. Flynn is regarded as loyal to Mr. Trump, but he has in recent weeks expressed serious concerns to friends that prosecutors will bring charges against his son, Michael Flynn Jr., who served as his father’s chief of staff and was a part of several financial deals involving the elder Mr. Flynn that Mr. Mueller is scrutinizing,” according to the Times. "The White House had been bracing for charges against Mr. Flynn in recent weeks, particularly after charges were filed against three other former Trump associates..."