Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI, is cooperating with Mueller
"Lock him up. Lock him up."
But seriously ...
What I'm going to type next is going to piss a lot of you off. I know that it is important for America to speak with one voice in the transition period between outgoing and incoming Presidents with radically different ideas. And I know that the staff of the President-elect, (especially Kushner), may have committed some crimes here. It seems to be a violation of the Logan Act.
But I don't care.
It makes perfect sense for somebody on Trump's team to say to Putin's lackeys, "Hey, don't react to Obama's sanctions and expulsions. He'll be gone in a few weeks, and it will be a new ballgame."
Yeah, that's probably illegal, but this is a case where a law seems to ignore common sense and modern reality. (Or even ancient reality. I don't think anyone has ever been convicted of violating the Logan Act, and it has been on the books since the 18th century, during the administration of our second President, John Adams. Nobody has even been indicted for such a violation since the administration of that wise statesman, Millard Fillmore.)
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It is possible that Trump himself could be in trouble, depending on what Flynn actually knows. Remember that Trump asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation not long after Flynn resigned as national security adviser. "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy." Nobody has ever figured out why Trump thought this matter was important enough to merit his personal intercession. Does Flynn have something to say that Trump would not want revealed? Possibly. ABC has reported that Flynn is prepared to testify that Trump personally asked him to contact the Russians.
But again, bear in mind: (1) this was after Trump had already been elected, albeit before the inauguration, which means that while it may be technically illegal, it is a violation of an ancient law that has never been applied to anyone in the 218 years of its existence; (2) Trump can easily and legally shut Flynn up if he cares to because Flynn entered a guilty plea to a Federal crime, and is therefore within the reach of a Presidential pardon.
Good points, if the Logan Act was really the issue. But I don't think anyone is pursuing the Logan Act angle or expects that to ever come up. I'd guess it's the federal election laws that are Trump's real Achilles heel here, especially 52 USC 30121, the prohibition on soliciting or accepting any aid or "anything of value" to a campaign from a foreign national. As many have pointed out, the email chain alone between Trump Jr and those who set up his July, 2016 meeting with the Russian contacts who provided the evidence (probably unreliable) relating to the Clinton campaign's acceptance of Russian source funds constitutes just such an effort to solicit aid in the 2016 Presidential campaign. And is, if so, a felony. Needless to say, if any rubles turn out to have been exchanged at any point, such as paying Flynn's airfare and other expenses, the felony is an open and shut case. There is really no defense.
ReplyDeleteSo far, nothing from Flynn involves the election. But time will tell. There's no reason to think Mueller is playing an open hand. He may be sitting on some hole cards
DeleteThere is more than enough dirt on Trump already for The U.S House to being impeachment proceedings.
ReplyDeleteSays CNN (The Clinton Nonsense Network)....
DeleteIn other words, Adam, show me the proof.
DeleteWhat's the point? You'd just dismiss it all as 'fake news.' There is no point in trying to have a conversation with a brain-dead person like you.
DeleteThere's been enough on Trump since May to justify impeachment. In the official summary of his meeting with the Russians after his Comey firing, he said, ""I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off." So he actually admitted to obstruction of justice, basically daring the Congress to act. They did nothing then, and they will do nothing now.
DeleteIt will take something monstrously evil to get the House to act.
The bar for a "smoking gun" has been significantly raised since Nixon's day. Trump has already openly admitted to worse things than those which motivated Nixon to resign, but (virtually) no Republicans are calling for his removal.
Better place your hopes on a mass turnover in the 2018 election, and even in the case of a House impeachment, which can be done with a simple majority, conviction in the Senate requires 67 votes. Good luck with that, unless Trump masturbates on a picture of Jesus on live TV. I'm sad to report that we are almost certainly stuck with this guy for four years.
You know, Adam, it might be easier to have an intelligent conversation with you if you would quit being such a jackoff and actually display some intelligence instead of drinking the kool-aid and parroting the DemocRAT Party line.
DeleteYou're an idiot and I have a masters in economics, so I think everybody can decide for themselves the one here who is incapable of having an intelligent conversation.
DeleteOh yeah? Well, I happen to have a Masters in Economics as well, not to mention a Masters in Business and I have a different call on this.
DeleteYour turn!
Except you don't really and I do.
DeleteOh, now you're calling me a liar. Go away little boy. Take your list of complaints and your opinions with you.
DeleteI don't believe you've even once told the truth, liar.
DeleteI think Scoop has hit it right on the head. Anyone who expects this kind of stuff to actually follow the same laws the rest of us are subject to needs to be taken away from the table, and sat down, given a plate of cookies and a glass of milk and be told, 'now just sit here and enjoy your cookies and everything will be allll riiight.'
ReplyDeleteLet's say Flynn gets charged and convicted with something that *might* lead to Trump but carries a 20 year sentence. Trump pardons Flynn (and in the back room of the deal, it is made clear that Flynn is getting the pardon in return for his silence, something that is never part of the actual record) and so that part of the deal goes away because of no evidence and no testimony to prove that anything was ever out of place between the Russians and the Trump Campaign and/or administration.
It sucks but it happens. Take a deep breath, calm down and move on.
That's what he plead guilty to. Chances are he did more than that, and will testify to more than that. No way will they play every card in the press before actually getting people on the stand.
ReplyDeleteProbably true. A lot of this kind of stuff is played and spun in a way that it keeps the 'electorate' busy, so the real stuff doesn't get as easily observed.
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