Payment is irrelevant. You revealed yourself as either ignorant or playing for the other team:
Logan Act of 1799 “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
Most conservative legal pundits I’ve read have said that law would never stand up to constitutional scrutiny. That’s why nobody has ever been prosecuted under it.
How does this even fit? Flynn’s action in advocating for deportation of an obscure cleric wanted by the Turkish government was not directly or indirectly against the USA.