Free Republic

FRIEDMAN: I share Mika’s real outrage on this issue. I don’t care what he told Pence. We only care what he told Pence because Pence went out and basically mislead the public on Face the Nation. The issue is what did he tell Trump? Did he and Trump actually cook up this whole thing after the Russians did not respond harshly to the eviction of their spies and diplomats? Trump actually tweeted out some positive encouragement of this. Did the two of them cook this up all along? It gets, Joe, to two other issues. The first is we have...

For the record, Michael Flynn is a lifelong DEMOCRAT and an Obama appointee (to a highly sensitive position). That alone is reason enough to be suspicious of him, especially when considering the hard Left shift of the party in recent years. Michael Flynn: "because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology. _____________________________________________ Michael Flynn was invited to attend and speak at the 10th Anniversary...

National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has resigned over controversy surrounding his ties with Russia. The military veteran stepped down late on Monday night less than a month into President Donald Trump's administration amid mounting questions over his future and his close links with the Kremlin. His stunning announcement, first reported by CNN, came just hours after sources close to the government revealed that the Justice Department had warned the new administration that his links with the Kremlin had put him in a compromising position and left him open to blackmail.

The resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Monday evening raises troubling questions about the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the intelligence services. Flynn ostensibly resigned because he provided Vice President Mike Pence with “incomplete information” about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador, which turned out to include a discussion of recent sanctions, contrary to his earlier denials. Trust is crucial; the resignation was warranted. That said, the sanctions were largely bogus, and were applied not just to punish Russia for spying on the U.S. (both countries clearly spy on each other), but...

BREAKING: CNN reporting National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has Resigned ...

Washington (CNN)Embattled White House national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night, two sources tell CNN. His departure came just after reports surfaced the Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that Flynn misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.

Top White House aide and policy adviser, Stephen Miller, sidestepped repeated chances during Sunday news shows to publicly defend embattled National Security Adviser Michael Flynn following reports that he engaged in conversations with Russian diplomat(s) about U.S. sanctions before Trump’s inauguration. The uncertainty came as Trump was dealing with North Korea’s apparent first missile launch of the year and his presidency, along with visits this week from the leaders of Israel and Canada. Pressed repeatedly, Stephen Miller said it wasn’t up to him to say whether the president retains confidence in Flynn. “It’s not for me to tell you what’s...

Now Kremlin weighs into Michael Flynn furore saying Trump's National Security Adviser DIDN'T discuss lifting Russian sanctions in call with ambassador Flynn is currently being investigated by the FBI for his December phone call He allegedly promised an easing of sanctions imposed by Obama that same day If proved, he was illegally speaking to a foreign nation as a private citizen Flynn denied claims, but later said he 'couldn't be certain' the topic wasn't raised If Flynn did make the promise, he could face a fine or jail under the Logan Act The Kremlin has weighed in on the Michael...

Retired LTG Mike Flynn, President Trump’s national security advisor has been the object of an unprecedented campaign of defamation and abuse from Democrats and some Republicans in the DC defense establishment. General Flynn’s sin in their eyes is strangely contradictory, but logic is not necessarily the forte of these Michael Flynnstrange political bedfellows. In the eyes of Russophobic Democrats Flynn is soft on Russia. So, in an unprecedented attack, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called for Gen. Flynn to be suspended and for his intelligence clearance to be revoked until U.S. officials fully review his contacts with Russia’s ambassador. Pelosi...

National security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn apologized to Vice President Mike Pence for telling him that sanctions were not discussed in a pre-inauguration phone call with the Russian ambassador. Flynn has no plans to resign or give up his security clearance, Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported, citing a senior West Wing source.

Like a cresting wave, hysteria tied to executive orders is now met by childish hypocrisy. When will the embarrassment set in? Congressional Democrats allege that National Security Advisor-designee Michael Flynn, when he talked by phone with the Russian ambassador on December 29th, just three weeks before President Trump was sworn in, violated the Logan Act. What? Across the weekend news programs, accusatory individuals spread words like criminal violation, felony, need to resign, and congressional investigation, freely as jam on bread. Yet they all know, for an absolute fact, this is a lot of whooped-up nonsense. Follow me, you will be...

'Transcripts don’t show Flynn made any promise to lift sanctions. Rather show Flynn making more general comments about relations improving.'

Whatever happened to those ‘Question Authority’ and ‘Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism’ bumper stickers that flourished on liberals’ cars during the dark days of George W.’s administration? Now, in the waning days of a Dem presidency, a touching trust in the judgment of the president is in evidence on the left. On today’s Morning Joe, Prof. Eddie Glaude Jr., chair of Princeton’s African-American studies department, said he is “struck” that anyone would question President Obama’s judgment that sanctions against Russia are warranted. After all, argued Glaude, the president “has sworn to protect this country.” View the video here.

President Barack Obama on Thursday launched a sharp response to Russia’s alleged use of cyberattacks to try to interfere with the U.S. presidential election, including sanctions on top Russian government intelligence services and officials, as well as the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. Russia threatened to retaliate. A Kremlin spokesman said President Vladimir Putin would determine a response to the sanctions and other measures, saying the “principle of reciprocity applies here,” according to the Interfax news agency. The targets of the sanctions include Moscow’s top intelligence services, the Federal Security Service and the Main Intelligence Directorate, as well...

Cyberwar: President Obama, living up to his promise, has hit Russia with sanctions for hacking the U.S. election. We're all for protecting America's information grid. But the timing and Obama's reasoning for the actions raise serious questions about the real motivation. "All Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions," President Obama said from his vacation in Hawaii. "Such activities have consequences." He then announced sanctions, including giving 35 Russian intelligence officials 72 hours to leave the country. He also levied sanctions against a number of high officials of Russia's two main spy services, the GRU and FSB, along with companies...

Thursday on MSNBC, while reporting on a phone-in White House background briefing with officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department about President Barack Obama’s newly announced sanctions on Russia for hacking during the 2016 American presidential election, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell said the Obama administration is taking steps to “box in” President-elect Donald Trump so the sanctions are not easily reversible.

(CNN) -- Russian authorities have ordered the Anglo-American School of Moscow to close, as part of retaliation for US sanctions imposed Thursday, a US official briefed on the matter said. The order from the Russian government closes the school, which serves children of US, British and Canadian embassy personnel, to US and foreign nationals. The order also closes access to the US embassy vacation house in Serebryany Bor, near Moscow. Earlier Thursday, the Obama administration, condemning Russia's alleged interference in the election, sanctioned four Russian individuals and five Russian entities. The administration also ordered 35 Russian diplomats to leave the...

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., thinks the Obama administration was justified in retaliating Thursday against Russia with sanctions for interfering with U.S. institutions. But he said it should’ve been done long ago. Far from a full-throated endorsement of Obama’s actions, Ryan’s statement condemned the commander in chief for eight years of what he considers “ineffective foreign policy” that left the United States more vulnerable than it was when he took office in 2009. Nevertheless, Ryan agreed that Russia is a threat to global security. “Russia does not share America’s interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing...

Against the backdrop of a sanctions announcement, President Obama’s administration has released a Joint Analysis Report claiming to outline the details of Russia’s involvement hacking into targeted political data base or computer systems during the election. Except it doesn’t. Not even a little. The “Russian Malicious Cyber Activity – Joint Analysis Report” (full pdf below) is pure nonsense. It outlines nothing more than vague and disingenuous typical hacking activity that is no more substantive than any other hacking report on any other foreign actor. This might as well be a report blaming Nigerian fraud phone solicitors for targeting U.S. phone...

President Barack Obama on Thursday authorized a series of sanctions against Russia for intervening in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and warned of more action to come.