Flynn Charged With Lying to the FBI...
Investigation heats up. From AXIOS.
President Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty during a court appearance this morning to "willfully and knowingly [making] false, fictitious and fraudulent statements and representations" to the FBI regarding his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's then-ambassador to the United States. Flynn's plea came under Special Counsel Robert Mueller's expanding investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Why it matters:
With his plea, Flynn agreed to cooperate fully with Mueller's investigation. In a development that could have far-reaching implications as Mueller's probe moves forward, Flynn admitted in his plea that senior transition officials directed his contacts with Russian officials in late December of last year.
The lies that Flynn told FBI agents:
Flynn claimed he did not ask Kislyak to attempt to "refrain from escalating the situation" after sanctions were imposed against Russia by the Obama administration during a December 29, 2016 conversation.
Flynn "did not recall" that Kisylak told him that Russia planned a moderate response to the sanctions thanks to that conversation.
Flynn claimed that he did not ask Kislyak to delay or defeat a pending vote on a U.N. Security Council resolution during a conversation on December 22, 2016.
Another big thing:
Flynn's charging document states that his false statements to the FBI came on January 24, 2017 — after Trump's inauguration and during his service as national security advisor.
Read the full story HERE.
Actually, the discussion between Flynn and the Russians at the request of Trump....was to exchang the borscht recipes for KFC's secret ingredients.
ReplyDeleteRunnin ascared eh?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, crappin in my pants
DeleteLOL! Haven’t thought ”ascared” in a long time. I said it a lot as a kid and my mother always corrected me.
ReplyDeleteLes... the question is how high this will go. Many are hoping it leads to Trump, without considering any other options.
ReplyDeleteWhat, for instance, will ppl do if the mess stops short of Trump? Then he gets a clean bill of health and can start fresh, probably with a huge tax break [completely unpaid for, but that's another discussion] and move forward.
Folks who are jumping for joy and joining impeachment pools are, in my opinion, moving a little too quickly.
Yes Flynn pled guilty, but that's a long way from Trump's removal.
"Flynn had denied to the F.B.I. trying to get Kislyak to take positions, on Russia’s response to sanctions and on a Security Council vote regarding Israeli settlements, that ran counter to the foreign-policy efforts of Barack Obama, who was still President.
ReplyDeleteWhite House officials, in comments to reporters, presented Flynn’s transgressions as “isolated.” However, Flynn also signed a “statement of offense,” as part of the deal, that described the Kislyak meetings not as freelancing but as something that he was “directed” to do by the members of the Trump transition team. One is identified as a “very senior member” of that group. That sounds like a rich area for investigation.
[SKIP]
In addition to failing to disclose all sorts of contacts with foreign interests, mostly through his consulting firm, there have been reports, notably in the Wall Street Journal, that Flynn, as part of his paid work for Turkish interests, met with Turkish government representatives to explore how to get a Muslim cleric, who is at odds with the Erdoğan government and lives in Pennsylvania, out of the United States and into Turkey’s custody—one way or the other. (Flynn, through a lawyer, and Turkish officials have denied the Journal’s suggestion that they considered extrajudicial means.) Lying to the F.B.I., as serious as that charge is, rather pales next to a possible kidnapping conspiracy. Indeed, Trump’s choice of a national-security adviser who was reckless or venal enough to even sit down for such meetings is both shocking and, for this White House, typical." --A.D. Sorkin, reporting for The New Yorker Magazine
None of the above facts seems to bother or even raise eyebrows with the Trump crowd. It is astounding that someone as corrupt as Flynn was able to become the National Security Advisor while working for and taking money from a foreign government. Mueller flipped him, and it will be interesting to find out what else Flynn and the Trump campaign and administration were up to.
I agree it is too soon to start counting chickens that haven't hatched yet. But, personally I lay odds he's as guilty as hell.
ReplyDeleteI'll be waiting the final outcome regarding his son-in-law.
When everything is finally out, and judgements passed, this administration could very well enter the history books as one of the nation's most inept and corrupt.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as Dave noted we are a long way yet from knowing that.
The Trump administration has a way to go yet to beat the record holder Nixon (another republican of course) of 76 criminal indictments and 55 criminal convictions, but it is a distinct possibility.
DeleteTrump-haters were awfully excited yesterday when the Mike Flynn guilty plea for lying to the FBI was announced. But nothing excited them more than a report from ABC News's Brian Ross, who claimed Flynn would testify he'd been ordered by candidate Trump - before the election - to contact the Russians. If true, it would be the first real indication that something might have happened that could amount to election collusion with Moscow.
ReplyDeleteTwo problems: 1. Every other media outlet was reporting that Trump or one of his top deputies ordered the contact after the election, which would be no big deal, so ABC was an outlier in its take on the story. 2. The reporter was Brian Ross, who has a history of getting big splashy scoops spectacularly wrong.
OK, three problems. 3. Ross was wrong, and was forced hours later to admit it:
The entire conversation was all about ISIS and nothing about the election st all.
Free... and now Brian Ross has actually been suspended for a month without pay for bad journalism. Kudos to ABC.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time a FOX journalist was suspended for being wrong or reporting a lie as fact or truth? Or any other network for that matter? Except maybe CBS with Dan Rather.
“MAYBE “ Dan Rather??
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding?
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ReplyDeleteLearn to follow the guidelines or don't bother to return dimwit.
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DeleteDan Rather reported the facts about gwb going AWOL from the TX air national guard. Unfortunately for Rather, they were snookered by fake documents planted by Karl Rove (the Killian documents). All the facts in the "fake" documents, btw, were accurate. This according to the secretary of bush's commanding officer, Marian Carr Knox, who was interviewed by Rather. According to Rather, Knox "told us she believes what the documents actually say is, exactly, as we reported".
DeleteRe the documents, WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, "we had every reason to believe that they were authentic at that time". That info was passed on to Rather, and that is one of the big reasons they ran with the story as it was constructed at the time. If the WH had said otherwise, Rather still would have run with the story, but not included the documents in it. IT WAS A SETUP! Rather took the fall (along with his producer Mary Mapes) for a story that was TRUE.
As for Brian Ross' incorrect reporting (saying Flynn was directed by Trump to contact the Russians as a candidate as opposed to the president elect), he corrected himself the same day. Of course Trump jumps on this and ABC caves and suspends him. As per unnamed sources "No one wants to work with him" and "The future doesn't seem bright for him".
But neither the Trump campaign nor transition team should have been contacting any foreign government as representatives of the US government. Both are violations of the Logan Act. Although nobody has ever been convicted of violating it, so it's no big deal, apparently. As per Lindsey Graham, "I don't think the Logan Act is worth the paper it's written on". Makes one wonder why, if neither contact before or after the election makes a difference, why should Brian Ross' career be destroyed? And why should ABC get "kudos" for knuckling under?
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ReplyDeleteJust gotta love those so called conservatives and libertarian types who offer nothing but off topic comments, pointless unfounded accusations, general drivel, and other such horsesh*t.
ReplyDeleteAll previously deleted comments contained just such empty headed nothingness.
That’s what happens when you have no facts to back up your position. All that is left is unfounded accusations, general drivel, and meaningless diversions. And anyone with half a brain can see right through it.
DeleteFor some reason Les, some folks are just not able to comment in a civil manner using facts, reason and logic.
ReplyDeleteI hesitate to say it but, here I go. Are they mentally challenged or just willfully ignorant?
DeleteLes... I think people are angry. They/we've been sold a bill of goods called the American dream and it has not materialized. People who worked hard for 30 years are out of jobs and without college degrees and a good formal education so they are not employable. Not employable in jobs that will feed their families.
ReplyDeleteSo what can they do? Work at McDonald's? Of course they can, but you can't feed a family, pay the rent get ahead doing that. Couple that with the reality that there are people who receive welfare who are not working, for whatever reason and that anger starts to fester.
And then they lash out as anyone who feels cornered might do.
Just my take.
Have a great weekend Les...