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Is Flynn's Defection a Death Blow?
Townhall.com ^ | Dec 05, 2017 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 12/04/2017 9:23:09 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom

Why did Gen. Mike Flynn lie to the FBI about his December 2016 conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak?

Why did he not tell the FBI the truth?

As national security adviser to the president-elect, Flynn had called the ambassador. Message: Tell President Putin not to overreact to President Obama's expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats. Trump will be president in three weeks, and we are committed to a new relationship.

Not only was this initiative defensible, it proved successful.

Putin accepted the loss of his diplomats and country houses on Long lsland and the Eastern Shore. Rather than expel U.S. diplomats in retaliation, he invited them and their families to the Kremlin's New Year's parties.

"Great move...(by V. Putin)," tweeted Trump, "I always knew he was very smart." This columnist concurred:

"Among our Russophobes, one can hear the gnashing of teeth.

"Clearly, Putin believes the Trump presidency offers Russia the prospect of a better relationship with the United States. He appears to want this, and most Americans seem to want the same. After all, Hillary Clinton, who accused Trump of being 'Putin's puppet,' lost."

Flynn, it now appears, was not freelancing, but following instructions. His deputy, K. T. McFarland, sent an email to six Trump advisers saying that Obama, by expelling the Russians, was trying to "box Trump in diplomatically."

"If there is a tit-for-tat escalation," warned McFarland, "Trump will have difficulty improving relations with Russia." Exactly.

Flynn was trying to prevent Russian retaliation. Yet, as the ex-director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he had to know his call to Kislyak was being monitored and recorded.

So, again, why would he lie to the FBI about a conversation, the contents of which were surely known to the people who sent the FBI to question him?

The other charge of lying about a call with Kislyak was Flynn's request for Russian help in getting postponed or canceled a Security Council vote on a resolution denouncing Israeli settlements on the West Bank.

Obama's White House was backing the anti-Israel resolution. And Bibi Netanyahu had asked Trump to weigh in to block the vote.

Bottom line: Flynn, acting on instructions, tried to prevent a U.N. condemnation of Israel, and to dissuade Russia from a mass expulsion of U.S. diplomats, lest this poison the well against a rapprochement for which the American people had voted.

In the court of public opinion, Flynn's actions would find broad support. Rather than deny knowledge of them, Trump should have taken credit for them.

Why the general would lie to the FBI about conversations he had to know U.S. intelligence had recorded is a puzzling question, but now also an irrelevant one, water over the dam.

For Trump's general is now the newly conscripted collaborator of the media-Mueller-Democrat-deep state conspiracy to overturn the election of 2016 and bring down the Trump presidency.

Remarkable.

After 18 months, we have no evidence Trump colluded with Russia in hacking the emails of the DNC or John Podesta, which is what the FBI investigation was supposedly about.

There is no conclusive evidence Flynn committed a crime when, as national security adviser-designate, he tried to prevent Obama from sabotaging the policies Trump had run on -- and won on.

Yet there is evidence Russian intelligence agents colluded with a British spy in the pay of the oppo research arm of the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign -- to find dirt on Donald Trump.

And there is evidence James Comey's FBI wanted to hire the British spy who appeared to have access to the Russian agents who appeared to possess all that wonderful dirt on the Donald.

It is hard to see how this ends well.

This weekend, after Flynn's admission he lied to the FBI, Beltway media were slavering like Pavlov's dogs at anticipated indictments and plea bargains by present and former White House aides, Trump family members, and perhaps Trump himself.

The joy on the TV talk shows was transparent.

Yet the media have already been badly damaged; first, by the relentless Trump attacks and the cheering for those attacks by a huge slice of the country; second, by their reflexive reaction. The media have behaved exactly like the "enemy" Trump said they were.

In this us-versus-them country, the media now seem to relish the role of "them." The old proud journalistic boast to be objective and neutral reporters, observers and commentators is gone.

We are all partisans now.

As last Friday's sudden 300-point drop in the Dow reveals, if Trump's enemies bring him down, they will almost surely crash the markets and abort the recovery that took hold in Trump's first year.

And if the establishment, repudiated by Trump's victory, thinks it will be restored to the nation's good graces if they destroy Trump, they are whistling past the graveyard.

When Caesar falls, the cheering for Brutus and Cassius tends to die down rather quickly. Then their turn comes


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: buchanan; michaelflynn; mueller; trumprussia
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C'mon, Pat, you should know death blows when you see one. You worked for Nixon. This may be a death blow for ABC News but not Trump.
1 posted on 12/04/2017 9:23:09 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Maybe Flynn lied because he knew that one of the feebeyes questioning him was bought and owned by the Clinton crime family.


2 posted on 12/04/2017 9:28:28 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

This ‘investivation’ is a wild-eyed partisan sham, and needs to be shut down now.

Just my view.


3 posted on 12/04/2017 9:28:47 PM PST by cba123 ( Toi la nguoi My. Toi bay gio o Viet Nam.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
If Gen. Mike Flynn lied and lied and lied - then how does he give credible statements against President Trump?
4 posted on 12/04/2017 9:30:45 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Happy Nobama!)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Flynn's lie appears to be a lie of omission. He didn't mention that he asked Kislyak for Russia to hold off on retaliating for sanctions placed on Russia by Obama. He also didn't mention that he asked that Russia delay a UN Security Council action against Israel.

Flynn didn't know that he was being interviewed. He thought he was making small talk with FBI agents that were there for another purpose. The FBI agents never told him the purpose of the discussion or else Flynn may have asked for his attorney to be present. Because Flynn didn't know he was being interviewed, he didn't see the need for full disclosure.

5 posted on 12/04/2017 9:46:39 PM PST by SSS Two
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

It’s all a farce to me and if anything happens, we should be out on the streets protesting this kangaroo court.


6 posted on 12/04/2017 9:53:11 PM PST by BeadCounter
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To: BenLurkin

Maybe he coped a plea to save his son.


7 posted on 12/04/2017 9:54:50 PM PST by theoilpainter
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Blanket party for the District of Corruption!

Be there, or be square! :)

8 posted on 12/04/2017 10:05:01 PM PST by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: theoilpainter

>> Maybe he coped a plea to save his son.

You must have heard the same tidbit I heard on Hannity’s program last week.


9 posted on 12/04/2017 10:07:08 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: cba123

Maybe the FBI needs to be shut down for its evil. First, they tried to murder Pamela Geller and probably 100 other people in Garland, Tx. — now they are trying to overturn the will of the people and a lawfully elected President. The Federal Burea of Islam and incompetence should be retired and maybe something new from the ashes.


10 posted on 12/04/2017 10:09:40 PM PST by Stepan12 (It is Civll War right now..)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Dershowitz was making this point repeatedly. Apparently to a lawyer, indicting Flynn for lying means tossing his credibility as a witness in the hopes that he sings in order to gain leniency, and Dershowitz says this tactic leads to targets making up songs to save their owns hides.

Dersh considered Mueller a close minded zealot employing the tactics of a zealot. Think of how Flynn was ambushed by agent Borat, and how Manafort got the heavy handed SWAT treatment at his home, and it’s easy to see why he’d think that, with past experience to reinforce his opinion.

My guess is that the next phase has those looking at the prospect of exposure and prison (it’s entirely possible that before long, to a guilty Deep State operator prison may seem relatively safe compared to facing an outraged citizenry) pushing the “Trump obstructed justice” BS in order to buy time for the “Trump is a worse sex offender than Conyers, and if we don’t impeach we are racist” gambit to mature.

Problem is, the President is shaping the battlefield with Tweets and his ability to set the pace. More and more people are convinced that the Clintons are crooks the accusations from the Deep Staters are merely self serving. Uniparty members like Hatch are defecting to team Trump, and soon many will have to choose between taking the red pill or being destroyed.

Being politicians, I bet the allegiance switching will be stunning in swiftness and scope. Those not afraid of angry voters or who still believe they are untouchable will have to be rooted out, and it’s going to get ugly.

What a great time to be an American!


11 posted on 12/04/2017 10:13:57 PM PST by M1911A1 (President Trump. Ahhhhhhhh.....)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Why the general would lie to the FBI about conversations he had to know U.S. intelligence had recorded is a puzzling question, but now also an irrelevant one, water over the dam.

Are we ever going to know what exactly Flynn said to the FBI that is now called a "lie"? For all we know it could be over a minor issue like a date or time or location and not some bald-faced biggie that could bring a president down. Look what happened with Jeff Sessions. They got him to recuse himself from the whole investigation because he simply forgot to say he said hi to the Russian ambassador at a party! From the looks of it and the people clamoring to attack and degrade and prosecute, I think it is looking more and more like the witch hunt we have been calling it. Flynn "admitting he lied to the FBI" doesn't tell anyone what he lied about, why it was a lie (and not just a "misremembered" fact) and why it is now such a big deal. We shouldn't forget that Flynn worked for Obama first. We don't know how deep this rabbit hole might really go.

12 posted on 12/04/2017 10:15:54 PM PST by boatbums (The Law is a storm which wrecks your hopes of self-salvation, but washes you upon the Rock of Ages.)
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To: Stepan12

Well I don’t want to go on record against the FBI.

No way. :)

But this investigation is completely biased, and needs to be ended.

For real.


13 posted on 12/04/2017 10:20:24 PM PST by cba123 ( Toi la nguoi My. Toi bay gio o Viet Nam.)
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To: theoilpainter

They drained the man, he’s selling his house..

The money well was dry..

it was his only choice. Yes, I think his son had something to do with his decision as well.


14 posted on 12/04/2017 10:34:57 PM PST by cableguymn (We need a redneck in the white house....)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

no doubt....Nixon had huge Democrat majorities in both houses...break ins...hush money..burglars...perjury...secret bombings in Cambodia etc......if Paul Ryan even hinted at impeachment, the SHTF. Trump should start after the holidays to hold rallys and say just that..”they are trying to over turn the election against your President”...make it a mid term issue. Then buckle up, but Trump has the stones to bring it on.


15 posted on 12/04/2017 10:36:38 PM PST by basalt (ut, the leeches will soon get notices that "sorry,)
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To: boatbums

to be honest...and i hate to say this, but team Trump played right into their hands by all these drip drip Russian meetings...only thing i can think of, they wanted to go to war with the media and not admit to anything, as crazy as that sounds...i dont know..its puzzling. Then again...right after he fired Flynn, he said at his presser that he would have ordered Flynn to talk to Russia if somebody else hadnt..he had nothing to hide.Unless they trapped him, or he was just plain arrogant, which was a rap alot of people put on Flynn..him going without a lawyer kinda says that.


16 posted on 12/04/2017 10:42:28 PM PST by basalt (ut, the leeches will soon get notices that "sorry,)
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To: BeadCounter
It’s all a farce to me and if anything happens, we should be out on the streets protesting this kangaroo court.

"if anything happens, we should be out on the streets protesting"?

Guess again.

If "anything happens", We the People will definitely be "out on the streets" doing something—but it won't merely be "protesting". Get this through your thick skulls, you incorrigibly corrupt Uniparty Swamp Things—you've already lost!

Do you understand what I—along with another 60 million fed up, red-blooded patriotic Americans—am telling you? It's over. Your decades-long reign of Establishment terror is finished. You just don't realize it yet. But sooner or later, you will.

At this point, the only question—the only question—is the method of your defeat. I, for one, pray that it will be accomplished peaceably, using the time-honored processes set forth under our beloved Constitution. But if it must instead be done in the tradition of our glorious Revolution, then so be it.

17 posted on 12/04/2017 10:43:12 PM PST by sargon ("If we were in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, the Left would protest for zombies' rights.")
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To: BeadCounter

Does anyone else smell a fish here? This former head of the DIA did not know that every word he uttered in his conversation with the Russian ambassador was transcribed. Mueller might want to be careful. President Trump often comes off sounding like an idiot. He is actually a genius. This is one of his tactics to confuse his opponents. Progressives like to think they are super smart. It’s like Wolf Blitzer on Jeopardy. They are actully dumb as mud. Flynn has been a Trump agent. If he received a 60 year sentence the President could pardon him. The popular account of these events might be true. However, I would not be surprised if Flynn is in on an elaborate game.


18 posted on 12/04/2017 10:46:09 PM PST by Vehmgericht ( stop)
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To: M1911A1

kinda comes down to Paul Ryan....if he starts hinting at impeachment, all hell will break loose. Anyone know who runs the Judiciary Committee in the House?..thats where any thing will start. They have zero evidence, but its a political move...


19 posted on 12/04/2017 10:47:17 PM PST by basalt (ut, the leeches will soon get notices that "sorry,)
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To: theoilpainter

It doesn’t matter. Just an advisor passing through. All of 24 days.


20 posted on 12/04/2017 10:55:08 PM PST by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election!)
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