ALERT: THIS STORY HAS SINCE BEEN RETRACTED BY ABC NEWS!
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/01/media/abc-news-flynn-correction/index.html
Ben Mathis-Lilley reports for Slate:
“ABC’s Brian Ross says that Michael Flynn—the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation—is prepared to testify that Donald Trump directed him to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has directly denied having any knowledge that anyone involved with his campaign was in contact at any point with Russian officials.
Some caveats:
- This is just one report.
- Contact between campaigns and foreign governments is not in and of itself illegal.
On the other hand, wow!
Developing!”
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Stay tuned! This is all happening very fast.
Mike Pence would certainly be a truly horrible President. And, probably far more effective than Trump at pushing his far-right religious/social agenda down the throats of Americans.
But, at least, he 1) appears to be basically honest, although misguided; 2) is pretty predictable; 3) probably could conduct meetings with foreign leaders without putting his foot in his mouth and making America look totally foolish; 4) has never been accused of sexual misconduct; 5) isn’t known for tweeting; 6) although having retrograde views on race, gender, and immigration, does not pander quite as directly to the White Nationalist and extremist hate groups as does Trump (although he might well turn out to be a “willing enabler” of hate groups, I actually don’t see him retweeting bogus materials from known hate groups to intentionally divide America and the world); 7) generally speaks in complete, relatively coherent sentences; 8) doesn’t appear to have any immediate extended family or business ties who intend to corruptly profit from his Presidency.
It’s not a great prospect, but far better than what we have now. Just an indication of how low we have fallen as a nation.
Here is some more in depth analysis from ABC News of the Flynn plea and why despite the predictably pathetic attempts at deflection by the White House, this can’t be good news for Trump!
I still think the likeliest timing for impeachment is right after the primaries, when Congressmen no longer worry about being “primaried” by a Trumpite. With Gerrymandering in 2018, election in November is usually easy.
But we could get lucky with an “Agnew” some morning, Trump resigns. No jail time but Trump pays taxes on money laundering profits and Jared does minimal time. He is in deeper trouble because his attempts at money laundering from the Putin controlled bank to dig out from Jared and Ivanka’s Billion dollar blunder overpaying for 666 Fifth Avenue, are more recent 2015. Easily, within the statute of limitations. Trump’s most serious are 1999 when he was bankrupt and his father died so Dad couldn’t cosign Trump’s loans.
That’s why the action is likely over Jared now, since like Flynn, he also did not disclose Russian contacts in his security paperwork. Those of us who’ve done the paperwork for Top Secret repeatedly know it’s serious and why. Just like the Split between John Dean and the Halderman and Erlichman White House factions during Watergate. Flynn is like John Dean here. And the relatively light felony he pled to is explicitly designed to achieve 3 strategic purposes for Special Counsel Muller:
1. Coupled with the “Release on Recognizance” it gives Flynn what he needs now, liberty and hope, specially for his Mike Jr.
(Keeping the Jrs out of prison is Muller’s equivalent of the Old 1966 Green Bay Packers full back sweep with Jim Taylor-well executed
works every time).
2. Muller can yank #1 above anytime. And play Jared against Don Jr, a/k/a “Fredo”, “I’m not Dumb. I’m Smart”. Jared already saw his own Father do that play in the 2005 scandal where he ended up See Why Robert Mueller Has Trump So Ho in His Sights | Vanity Fair For details cf
The Long, Twisted, and Bizarre History of the Trump-Russia Scandal and highly recommended to keep track of what’s going to happen
and who for “who is who” check out the concise and well organized:
A Guide to the Key Players in the Trump-Russia Scandal – Mother Jones
3. We already know Trump Jr set up the July 2016 Trump Tower meeting with the Russians and all the Trump principals, and Jared the likely lead. Like Jared’s own father set up his own brother-in-law with the Feds in when Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. The last charge involved a particularly nasty incident where Charles Kushner sent his sister Esther a tape showing her husband William Schulder with a prostitute hired by Kushner to discredit his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities in 2005. See Father of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner spent 14 months – AL.com
The Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”, appears coming up to the Trump takeover of our Executive branch as Putin’s Puppet. As Robert Duval may say: “I love the Sound of Watergate in the Morning”. The Guardrails of Democracy are Holding. Is this a great country or what? Go Badgers! Beat State!
G
Even if this story has some problems, it is clear that “Mikey the Felon” has some high quality info and that he is singing his heart out to avoid being locked in the same cell as his fellow felon son for lots of years. I predict that “Jerry the K” will be the next to go. It’s also possible that Stevie “Vlad the Lenin” Bannon will be in some hot water, given his prominent role in the campaign and his love of all things Russian and revolutionary. Every prison in the U.S. could use a good in-house alt-right rag sheet dedicated to dissing Blacks, Hispanics, Gays, Druggies, Immigrants, Gangs, Muslims, etc. Stevie would have a BIG FOLLOWING.
Thanks for putting in a good word for the Badgers! GO BUCKY!
PWS
12-02-17
The “Lying to the FBI” charge Mike Flynn pled guilty had both “conspiracy with Russians on Election” and “Money malfeasance” prongs. That allows both collateral and pendant jurisdiction for the Muller grand juries, and permits all evidence of conspiracy by any “spoke” of the alleged wheel, as relevant to all “spokes” of the Conspiracy wheel.
Having both prongs simplifies evidence collection first, but also makes that evidence part of the package presented to other potential “flipping Flynns” for plea bargaining negotiations.
Imagine if you’re already are paying $20K as retainer to a Washington DC criminal defense lawyer for the honor of working for Trump. And your lawyer tells you that talking to another Trumpite who may be wearing a wire is now a NO No, and this lawyer monitoring this developing situation requires another $10K in retainer, just before Christmas.
Just telling Muller the whole Truth and taking your chances sounds very attractive, specially if the prospect of making big bucks after working for Trump no longer looks likely. LOL! All Trump will have left to hand out freely are Honorary PhDs. from Trump University. And some Trump Vinegar made from leftover sour Trump wine and MAGA hats.
Not sure if I ever sent you this story from The New Republic from July 2017 (or maybe you have already seen it), but it is a show stopper worth reposting.
https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate