Free Republic

A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling...

A federal judge lambasted former national security adviser Mike Flynn in court Tuesday, threatening to upend a proposed agreement between him and prosecutors that he should receive a lenient sentence after his extensive cooperation with investigators. “I’m not hiding my disgust—my disdain—for this criminal offense,” said U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. He questioned whether Mr. Flynn had truly accepted responsibility for his crimes, including lying to FBI agents, and suggested he might require incarceration, despite prosecutors’ contention that Mr. Flynn deserves no jail time. Judge Sullivan seemed especially troubled by Mr. Flynn’s lobbying work for Turkish interests and his...

WASHINGTON — Two former business associates of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey’s secret 2016 lobbying campaign to pressure the United States to expel a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Charges against the two former associates, Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin, were unsealed on Monday in an Alexandria, Va., courtroom. The two men were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules, and Mr. Alptekin also was charged with making false statements to F.B.I. investigators. The indictment is further evidence of a broad...

YouTube video