Posted on 02/19/2017 11:41:03 AM PST by Kaslin
WASHINGTON -- Gen. Mike Flynn provided the first scalp in the Trump administration in record time -- he served as White House National Security Adviser for 23 fleeting days before he resigned Monday night. In the eyes of President Donald Trump, Flynn could be his team's first casualty of "fake news."
As Trump told reporters at his epic press conference Thursday, he asked for Flynn's resignation because Flynn didn't tell Vice President Mike Pence that he may have discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador during the transition period. Pence then told CBS' "Face the Nation," that of course Flynn had not discussed possibly lifting sanctions with the ambassador.
Flynn "didn't have to do that, because what he did wasn't wrong," Trump maintained.
Some critics contend that any discussion of sanctions with Russian officials would have been a felony under the Logan Act, which prohibits citizens from freelancing on foreign policy to prevent them from undermining the policies of an incumbent president. The thing is, no American has ever been prosecuted under that dubious law.
But if reporters are concerned about violations of the law, Trump continued, they ought to look at the federal officials who leaked his phone conversations with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The calls are supposed to confidential, but someone leaked them. Trump added, "The same thing happened with respect from Gen. Flynn."
You see, a Justice Department and intelligence official had notified the White House legal counsel that Flynn had not leveled with administration higher-ups about what Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and he discussed. (How did intelligence officials know what Flynn and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak discussed? They apparently stumbled onto the conversation because they tapped Russian communications.)
Flynn resigned, according to Trump, because he misled Pence. But the timing -- weeks after the White House had been alerted and on the day the Washington Post reported on the disclosure -- suggests that Flynn had to go, not because he misled Pence in a very public way, but because he got caught doing so.
And yet, Trump has a point on the leaks. As Bloomberg columnist and national security expert Eli Lake wrote, "Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do." It's not pretty when bureaucrats decide to use their power to undermine elected officials.
The Flynn revelation follows a trail of leaks and questionable stories. Most notably, there is the smarmy and discredited Buzzfeed post of a so-called dossier on Trump and his associates' fictional ties with Russia.
The New York Times could not corroborate the same dossier and did not report on it. Yet the Times just ran a front-page story with the headline, "Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contact With Russian Intelligence."
The sources were unnamed -- "four current or former American officials" -- but named four individuals, including Flynn, reportedly under investigation. Otherwise the story provided a feast of innuendo: "The officials would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, the identity of the Russian officials who participated, and how many of Mr. Trump's advisers were talking to the Russians. It is also unclear whether the conversations had anything to do with Mr. Trump himself."
That's mighty thin gruel for the Gray Lady's front page. As far as Trump is concerned, the story is part of the glut of "fake news" fabricated to credit Russian intelligence for Wikileaks of emails from Hillary Clinton associates and thus discredit his win in the Electoral College.
The Wikileaks emails were embarrassing -- especially for former CNN contributor Donna Brazile, who passed on presidential debate questions to the Clinton camp -- but it's hard to see those small-change revelations determining the outcome of the election.
Washington and the news media are divided between those who are convinced the Russians helped Trump win -- which would de-legitimize his victory -- and those who, like Trump Thursday, are convinced the Russian spin is bogus.
The news media have run many stories that hint that Putin's Russia wanted to help Trump win. To date, however, no story has firmly established that Russia did more than make mischief.
That could change. "There's no hard facts yet about who talked to the Russians" or what they might have said, noted Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton. Davis sees "a lot of sourcing without facts."
But then, he added, "These kinds of stories drive out facts."
Or they fizzle.
Either way, Flynn is out.
What kind of a site is “got news”? I’ve never heard of it.
So if what Flynn did WAS wrong then he would be justified in lying to Pence?
I agree with a lot of people here-regardless of the reason or justification, lying to your boss is going to destroy your job.
There are times in life when lying or deception can be justified, that is true. (a man critically injured in an MVA and in a fragile state asks a caregiver how his deceased wife is, and is told they are still working on her, even though she is already deceased)
But in a professional situation, lying to your boss will never end well if it is discovered. (and if not, you have to live with the fact you have lied and that circumstances may uncover the deception at at time and place not of your choosing)
A well functioning superior/subordinate relationship is wholly dependent on a foundation of truth. If a person finds out a subordinate has lied, there are very few things that can justify it, and even fewer to repair that torn fabric.
Once trust has been betrayed, it is forever suspect, and it is best to cut ties. Everyone knows this.
"I don’t think Pence was behind it, but I think he got behind it once it went in motion."
Here is a your reply.
Why would you think Vice President Pence was behind it?
Big head indeed.
Reference post, thanks
The “scalps” are not mentioned. The entire 7th floor of the State Dept, the Shadow government, has been smashed, terminated, deep sixed, done in, trashed, and obliterated, all thanks to Flynn’s brilliant espionage. His own “take one for the team” firing outed the shadow government.
What kind of a site is “got news”? I’ve never heard of it.
http://charlescjohnson.com/about/
Ok, here’s my take on what’s happening with Flynn. It’s my best-case scenario. :-)
FlynnGate was all a counterespionage sting to identify and flush the leakers, and Flynn has been working with Comey on the list of pedophiles that were on the list Russia gave him. (Some ex-CIA analyst made that claim: The Dems can’t release any transcripts or discuss them because it included a list for pedogate investigators. “LOLOL” if true.)
Comey’s hush-hush meeting yesterday with the Intel committee, including Schumer, was to tell them that there are “certain high-level names” on that pedophile list that have been under FBI investigation for a few months now. And Comey told them that if those “certain high-level people” agree to cooperate and testify against Soros, Hillary, and Obama and whoever else is at the top, maybe these high-level people can stay out of prison where they will be boogered daily by pissed-off prisoners who hate people like them.
The people on Russia’s list and on FBIanon’s list from last year are being notified this weekend. “SEC” has been at home all weekend with an explosive case of stress-related diarrhea, and the others are in a corner somewhere muttering incoherent statements to nonexistent people.
And now, fellow FReepers, may we all take a few moments to pray for the health of the others who were mentioned by FBIanon:
NP
BF
MB
TK
DF
JM
LG
Next week, we will see a sudden change of heart among key players in Trump’s opposition. If not, they will continue to sweat as they watch more and more low-level pedophile traffickers being arrested around the globe.
BTW, who is Pence’s BFF? One of his friends is allegedly on the Russia list, according to rumors.
I meant to ping you to 48. No comment necessary; just didn’t want to leave you off.
Sounds legit. Gateway Pundit has now picked it up. It will be interesting to see if Reinse was feeding her disinfo or if he was participating in this wench NeverTrumper’s leaks. He and Bannon may have been plotting all this from the very beginning, catching leakers like flies on flypaper.
BTW, Wictor’s twitter feed is pretty busy now. And the original article is back up and moving very quickly.
To me, the point being, Mr. Trump knew he was entering a pit of vipers and despite a few stings, he is prevailing. I can just imagine these faggots in “intelligence” failing to expect a Canary Sting.
I’m not holding anything against Gen. Michael Flynn at this point. FBI and Admin say he’s clean. I’d like to believe he set all this up.
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