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May 8, 2018
The House Intelligence Committee released the report on their investigation into Russian interference and collusion with the Trump campaign last week. To the dismay of the committee, and those seeking transparency, the report was heavily redacted by the Department of Justice, citing national security implications, and concerns that its release could hamper their investigation. This past Friday the group of Republicans released an unredacted portion of the report, which adds to the evidence that the treatment of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, has been a travesty of justice.
Background
Flynn was forced to resign after just 24 days on the job from his newly appointed NSA position because he misrepresented to Vice President Pence telephone calls that took place during the transition period, between him and the then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn had denied that Russian sanctions were discussed with Kislyak to both Pence and the FBI. However, Kislyak was under surveillance by the FBI, so his phone conversations were wiretapped, including the one with Flynn. Being an American citizen, and not a target of the surveillance, Flynn’s identity should never have been unmasked. However, it’s suspected that someone within the intelligence community or justice department exposed Flynn’s identity, in spite of this information being classified at the highest level. To date, no one has suffered any repercussions for this criminal breach.
The recorded conversation revealed that sanctions were mentioned, but there was never an offer by either party of a quid pro quo. According to the document charging Flynn with a crime, on December 29, 2016 Flynn asked Kislyak to refrain from taking retaliatory measures in response to sanctions that Obama had imposed on Russia that same day, for their meddling in the presidential election. It was also revealed that Flynn’s conversation proved effective as Russia had agreed to moderate its response to those sanctions as a result of his request.
On January 24, 2017 Flynn met privately in his office in the White House with two FBI investigators who were interested in questioning him about his conversations with Kislyak. Unbeknownst to Flynn he was under a criminal investigation, so unfortunately he consented to the interview without an attorney. When questioned he informed the agents that he did not believe that sanctions were discussed during his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Why this interview even occurred is perplexing as the overwhelming consensus is as the incoming NSA Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak were lawful and appropriate. Even the Washington Post reported that the FBI had not found any evidence of wrongdoing after reviewing the phone calls .
Inconceivably, an Obama holdover, Sally Yates, then the acting attorney general, believed that Flynn violated a never enforced law, The Logan Act. The Logan Act is a 218- year- old law that forbids private citizens from engaging in unauthorized negotiations with foreign governments. In its entire history no one has ever been successfully prosecuted under this law. Apparently, Yates, and Obama’s justice department were hoping that Flynn would be the first. He was not. But, in December 2017 Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI.
The unredacted House Intelligence Report
The unredacted report has uncovered details regarding testimony that the then Director of the FBI, James Comey, and his then deputy, Andrew McCabe gave to congress regarding Flynn’s January interview.
According to this newly uncovered section of the report both Comey and McCabe testified before congress that the agents who conducted Flynn’s interview reported back that they did not believe that he was intentionally lying. In March 2017 Comey testified to the congressional committee that the agents who interviewed Flynn “discerned no physical indications of deception. They didn’t see any change in posture, in tone, in inflection, in eye contact. They saw nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them.” (Impairing his credibility, while on tour touting his book, Comey has denied making these statements to congress.)
McCabe echoed Comey’s assessment, stating that the “conundrum that we faced on their return from the interview is that although [the agents] didn’t detect deception in the statements that he made in the interview…the statements were inconsistent with our understanding of the conversation that he had actually had with the ambassador”.
Not surprising, this new, formerly blacked out information, does not reveal vital information that would hamper the probe or endanger national security, as asserted by the FBI and DOJ. However, it does uncover information that Flynn and his attorneys would consider vital to his defense. Was Flynn aware that the agents who interviewed him reported back to their superiors that they believed that he was not intentionally being untruthful? If he was, why did he plead guilty to lying? If not, this is a huge miscarriage of justice.
It has been reported that former Secretary of State John Kerry has engaged in shadow diplomacy in last- ditch efforts to save his failed Iran nuclear deal. According to the Boston Globe Kerry met twice with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to strategize in a bid to save the deal. Kerry has also engaged in discussions with German president Frank Walter Steinmeier, and French president Emmanuel Macron. Sure sounds like a violation of the Logan Act! Too bad former Deputy Attorney General, Sally Yates, isn’t still on the job. Undoubtedly she would have opened a criminal investigation against the former secretary of state, because as we are constantly informed by the media, the DOJ, FBI, and intelligence community are all nonpartisan.
The mainstream media often blast President Trump when he refers to the Russia probe as a witch -hunt. Perhaps they’re not familiar with Mike Flynn. To recap, he was the victim of the illegal unmasking of his identity, he was pursued for a crime in violation of a 218 year- old never before enforced law, he was then coerced into pleading guilty for lying to FBI agents, who actually believed that he was being truthful. Witch-hunt? Pretty sure Trump isn’t the only one who would describe the exhaustive Russia probe in such a manner.
