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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTPM EDITORS BLOG. Flynn's Deeds Are Much Worse Than We Thought
By JOSH MARSHALL Published NOVEMBER 28, 2017 1:48 PM
This may not be surprising. Or its not out of the blue. But its worth taking stock of the recent round of stories about disgraced National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and what those stories collectively tell us.
Weve known since during the campaign, indeed even before he joined Donald Trumps campaign, that Flynn had attended a high profile Moscow gala in December 2015 seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Thats not against the law though. Nor is it even inherently improper. We didnt know at the time he had failed to properly notify the Pentagon of his activities or about money he had been paid a general officer has continued such responsibilities to the Department of Defense after they retire. In any case, while there have been reasons to doubt the totality of what Flynn was up to, what he was actually caught doing seemed mainly to be a matter of not declaring things or making FARA filings about things he would be entitled to do if he had.
For some time, much the same seemed to be the case in Flynns work on behalf of Turkish interests. It is certainly not good to have a presidential nominees top foreign policy advisor in the pay of a foreign government. But again, at first at least, the problems on the Turkish front seemed more like a problem of non-filing and non-disclosure than activities that were criminal in themselves. To be clear, in both cases Im not saying this innocent explanation was clearly the case, only that such an innocent explanation was plausible on the basis of the known facts.
But progressively over recent months and then especially over recent weeks a different picture has emerged that makes such an innocent explanation unsustainable. During the failed Turkish coup in July 2016, Flynn was pushing the line that the Erdogan government was an incipient Islamist regime which should be displaced by the historically secular Turkish military. The coup failed. A short time later Flynn had gone into business as an agent of the Turkish government, all undisclosed and unfiled. Most critically he was, according to multiple published reports, negotiating payments for what would clearly have been illegal acts on American soil, some of which it seems he would have carried out while running the National Security Council.
Heres a passage from a just-released article from the Daily Beast
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/flynns-deeds-are-much-worse-than-we-thought
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)Flynn agreed to be a bounty hunter and kidnap Zarrab the Turkish cleric who is exiled here with legal status. Turkey couldn't extradite the cleric so they wanted him to be kidnapped by Flynn, and brought back to Turkey. Presumably they planned to execute Zarrab, but who knows. Flynn and his son were caught before they could carry out the plan, luckily. The Feds had already been watching him, since before he was fired from Trump's White House.
This was already in the news last summer, when Flynn tried to get immunity from Mueller's group. They said no immunity but you can tell us whatever you want, we're listening. Apparently Flynn has been able to get his son off, but he's going to jail no matter what. He'll plead guilty to a lesser charge, I'm sure.
Mueller has so much on Flynn, there's no way that guy could walk out without a conviction & prison sentence.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)Thanks!