Ret. General Flynn, Trump’s National Security Adviser for 24 days, pled guilty to one count of lying to the FBI in court on Friday. He is going to sing but will it be against Paul Manafort, someone tied to the President? We don’t know.
Flynn said in part in court: “After more than 33 years of military service to our country, including more than five years away from my family, to continue to serve the United States, it has been extraordinarily painful to endure these many months of false accusations of treason and other outrageous acts. Such false accusations are contrary to everything I’ve ever done but I recognize that the actions that I acknowledged in court today were wrong. I have faith in God and am working to set things right. My guilty agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s office reflected the decision I made in the best interests of my family and my country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
-
Christian Gold Company Defies Industry’s Retirement Fearmongering Through Prayer and Biblical Hope
In the charging documents, some of which are still secret, Flynn admits to lying and of reporting the meetings he lied about to a senior member of Trump’s transition team. The senior member could be the President himself or Paul Manafort or anyone. Trump had said a while back that it wasn’t him but he would have if he had known about it. Kushner was pulled it in November.
That is not illegal and there is nothing in the Flynn charging documents suggesting he colluded and committed an illegal act.
One of the conversations that prompted this decision was Flynn’s support for Israel at the behest of Netanyahu over the U.N. resolution condemning Israel. The U.N. is anti-Semitic.
The charge is far less than what Scooter Libby was charged with though Flynn could still serve up to five years. Libby was later pardoned by President Bush.
Flynn is charged under the Martha Stewart who was not convicted of a crime, only of lying.
The reason Flynn was fired was for lying and the charge by the FBI appears to be over the same issue.
One can question the administration’s judgement in hiring Flynn in the first place given the dinner he shared with Vladimir Putin, but, beyond that, it looks like he was fired for the same reason Mueller charged him — lying to Vice President Pence and former SPOX Sean Spicer.
In his meeting in December, he told the FBI the opposite of what actually happened. He apparently told the Russian ambassador to not overreact to the sanctions and shared that information with a senior member of the transition team in Florida. He also lied about the substance of the U.N. sanctions.
A senior member of the transition team directed Flynn to reach out to other nations including Russia about the sanctions according to Flynn’s statement. Members of the team at the team were listed by NPR in November of last year and can be found on this link.
That was an Obama administration complaint made at the time. Susan Rice said there can only be one President at a time.
Flynn was also not forthcoming about his lobbying for Turkey.
This sounds more like an effort to keep the Russia story alive but we don’t know. There have been rumors that Flynn will testify against the President and members of his family or it could be his testimony will be against someone like Paul Manafort. It’s all speculation and innuendo. President Trump had no experience, nor did his bare bones team.
However, what is not speculation is the fact that Flynn’s name was leaked. That is a felony.
Mueller has a big hammer over Flynn and his son. The New York Democrat and anti-Republican attorney general Eric Schneiderman could charge him under state law and Trump would not be able to pardon him for it.
This can go on for years.
People close to Flynn said he gave in because he was broken financially and emotionally and could not put his family through any more for years. Flynn is still on the hook for further charges. He is trying to quickly sell his house because he is out of money.
