National Security Advisor Michael Flynn caught lying about Russia, takes Mike Pence down with him
Donald Trump’s controversial National Security Advisor Michael Flynn did indeed discuss United States sanctions against Russia with a Russian official weeks before Trump took office, putting him in violation of the Logan Act, and catching both Flynn and vice president Mike Pence in a damaging lie they both told. Flynn is now tacitly acknowledging it, knocking down what could be the first domino in the Trump-Russia scandal which may now take down the entire Trump administration.
The FBI had already caught Michael Flynn phoning the Russian ambassador to the United States several times on the day that President Barack Obama rolled out sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its role in sabotaging the U.S. presidential election. But Flynn had routinely insisted that the conversations had nothing to do with the sanctions. This was an odd claim from Flynn, considering that there would have been no other viable reason for the phone calls that day, and that he surely knew the content of the calls was being monitored. Even more strangely, Mike Pence definitively backed him up on this claim at the time.
And now that the Washington Post has dug up confirmation that Flynn was indeed discussing the sanctions with the Russian ambassador, Flynn is on the path to fessing up, with his spokesman now claiming that Flynn can’t recall whether he discussed the sanctions or not.
It’s not yet clear what the precise next steps are. Michael Flynn is in violation of the Logan Act, and although no one has ever been prosecuted for it, the specter of Donald Trump’s own National Security Advisor getting caught breaking the law to collude with the Russian government (and getting caught lying about it) will put Flynn at the center of the burgeoning Trump-Russia scandal — making him the first logical scapegoat.
But even if Trump does nudge Flynn into resigning, it won’t make the scandal go away. Why did vice president Mike Pence back up Flynn’s false claim that he hadn’t discussed sanctions with Russia? Was Flynn lying to Pence, or was Pence lying for Flynn? Was Pence also involved in discussing sanctions with the Russians? What did Donald Trump know, and when did he know it? And perhaps most importantly, will Flynn give Trump and/or Pence up in order to get the investigative heat off himself?
The details of the Trump-Russia scandal are still just beginning to make their way to the public — and Michael Flynn getting caught in the act is a huge piece of the puzzle. It’s a matter of time before good old fashioned investigative journalism takes them all down.
Impeach Trump Now • Contribute to Palmer Report
