Posted on 05/20/2017 9:50:05 AM PDT by blueplum
(CNN) — Fresh controversy swirled around former US national security adviser Michael Flynn Thursday after one report claimed he told the Trump transition team he was under federal investigation before he started in the role, and another said he opposed a military operation in Syria that Turkey would have opposed while he was secretly in its pay.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
1. There's nothing 'fresh' about Flynn being 'under a federal investigation'. According to WaPo Jan 24th, Flynn was cleared of wrongdoing re: Russia ambassador contacts, in spite of Yate's theatrics. The calls were summarized May 18th Reuters - to have been routine topics such as combatting ISIS, improving relations, and China.
2. Flynn did tell WH counsel that there was an issue with his FAR that the DOJ was investigating (why?); transition counsel suggested he consult his own attorney as it was a personal issue. This was reported prior to CNN Mar 16 story about RT payments. An investigation by the DoJ wasn't reported until six weeks later. From recent articles, the FAR process appears relatively lax. Flynn claims his company notified one agency but not the Justice Dept. So, if Flynn didn't report income, that might be an IRS issue but certainly not a constitutional crisis, and neither would filing a retro FAR. What would be much more fun to investigate is how many retroactive FARs are filed each year, and how many FAs are running around DC lobbying without a single FAR in place.
3. Rice's plan to arm Kurds without regard to Turkey is being blindly pushed as 'good,' but Flynn's insistence she put the brakes on is being pushed as 'bad'. That makes no sense. The smart move seems to be exactly what Flynn did - stop it. Going forward with Rice's plan without critical diplomatic groundwork would have caused the US a whole world of problems.
Turkey wasn't, and still isn't, about to have Kurds anywhere near their border. The last thing they want is the Iraq Kurds and Syrian Kurds to hook up and lay claim to Turkish territory as a state carve-out. This, is not new news.
Turkey reiterated to the US on Mar 2 in no uncertain terms, they would fire on Kurd-SDF positions outside Manbij whether the US was backing them or not, because Turkey sees non- and pro-KPP fighters as a single terrorist group - their enemy.
The correct move was exactly what Flynn pushed - stop, listen to Turkey, redefine everyone's role so nobody's toes got stepped on, and, above all, don't damage our relationship with an ally with considerable regional influence and strategic importance to the US by placing the Kurds above Turkey.
We've since found a way forward, by promising Turkey that the Kurds will only use the weapons we give them to fight for a certain border town at a specific time and they will not be used against Turkey. Good luck with that, I know. We've also reassured Turkey that we will not push for a Kurdish state on Turkey's border. Turkey seems willing to publically accept these conditions as long as we publically accept that Turkey will kill whoever shoots at them, period. So now, and only now, can we get back to fighting IS along the Turkish border.
Rice, known more for narrow vision and lax diplomatic skills than for realistic assessments, would have gotten us kicked out of Turkey altogether, endangered our resources and manpower, and created an even worse situation in Syria. Flynn made the right call.
That was really a red flag to me at the time.
Controversy = Gossip
It’s the only a reporter can keep a job.
This is beyond fake news. It is propaganda. Nothing more.
“One report claimed”
IMHO, President Trump needs to put a patriot in charge of the FBI to start to clean house and to start moving pending investigations to speedy conclusions.
Clean? Speedy? No! NO! The Dems don’t want that!
THEREFORE, I think President Trump needs to “recess appoint” Rudy Giuliani to serve until the Senate acts in good faith to “confirm” Rudy’s permanent replacement.
IMHO, President Trump’s “recess-appoint” card will trump Lyin’ Schumer’s “infinite-delay” card.
The big black mark against Flynn is he wasn't completely forthcoming with Pence, which led to Pence's character being attacked. But on the other hand, maybe Flynn had his reasons. Not being forthcoming offered Pence plausible deniability, and Pence has been quite enjoying that honeymoon.
Unless something else turns up to change my opinion, all that seems to be left of the Flynn case is Flynn had a paperwork problem. If his company has a history of filing incomplete tax returns or late FARs we'd have heard about it by now. But if it was shoddy office work back home while he was on the road stumping, as Flynn claimed, how does it matter? File, pay the late fee, move on. To pile on Flynn because he accepted a medal or chicken dinner from Russia or lobbied for Turkey is ridiculous. Neither were anti-American activities.
I do see a couple of compromising issues, tho: Like, why Yates went hysterical on the Flynn/ambassador calls when, as we have since been told, there was never a there, there. Or why the transition team, among others, were illegally surveilled (and may still be - ergo Trumps ‘tapes’ quip). Or why Comey donated zero resources to finding and prosecuting leaks. Or why certain republicans have an issue with opening realistic dialogs with Russia. None of that has jack to do with Flynn, tho.
He was appointed National Security Advisor because he’s an awesomely smart well-connected NON-PC guy and because he had Trump’s back way back when no one else in the trade was openly in support, over 200 “former intelligence and military personnel” came out as nevertrumpers and signed a public letter declaring Trump a danger to the free world.
I found it reassuring he went to Trump’s intelligence briefings and had his back, so that Trump would not be sabotaged by fake or incomplete intelligence.
I don’t know who is doing that now. I don’t trust McMasters .... and his deputy is a Hillary bot!
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