Summary: The great mystery of RussiaGate is why anyone believes it makes sense. The pieces of the puzzle did not form a picture during the election. Despite vast amounts of new information, they did not form a picture a year later. Now, two years later, they still do not form a picture. Instead we get bold statements by partisans, wild guessing given with mad confidence. Here is the latest weird news – about Michael Flynn. Our acceptance of what we are told is one of our leaders’ greatest strengths.
“Michael Flynn Is Owed an Apology.“
Op-ed by Eli Lake at Bloomberg.
“Remember when Michael Flynn was a traitor? It was early 2017. Democrats were still stinging from their defeat at the hands of Donald Trump. …Flynn, a retired three-star general, was forced to resign after serving less than a month as Trump’s national security adviser. He was said to have colluded with Russians during the presidential transition. For this he was defamed as a Russian agent and mocked as a bumbling Benedict Arnold. Former officials of Barack Obama’s administration hinted that Flynn had been compromised.
“As it turns out, none of this was true. On Tuesday Flynn will receive a sentence for the one count to which he has pleaded guilty, lying to the FBI. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has recommended no jail time. Flynn will have a chance to get on with his life. …
“The evidence that Flynn was acting on behalf of Russia, however, is lacking. Yes, he attended a gala for Russia’s propaganda network, RT, in 2015 before joining the Trump campaign. But during the transition, as incoming national security adviser, Flynn would have been expected to have contacts with Russia. It was Flynn’s concealment of his communications that attracted the FBI’s interest. …
“That investigation {into Flynn} remained open after the bureau learned that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others in the Trump orbit about a phone call between himself and the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak. U.S. intelligence monitored the conversation.
“That conversation proved to be Flynn’s undoing. …leaks {about it} revealed that Flynn had misled the incoming Trump White House about the phone call. It remains a mystery why Flynn, a man with a reputation for integrity and valor as both an officer and government official, would lie. Perhaps it was untoward, but there is nothing unusual about an incoming national security adviser contacting foreign diplomats during the presidential transition. Trump himself was doing this openly from Trump Tower. According to the House Intelligence Committee report, Flynn ‘requested that Russia not escalate the situation and only respond to the U.S. sanctions in a reciprocal manner.’
“In no other era would these be grounds for treating a national security adviser like a member of a crime family. And yet that is exactly what the FBI did. On Jan. 24, 2017, then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe sent agents to discuss the phone call with Flynn without letting him know that he was being investigated. McCabe himself urged Flynn not to have a lawyer present, according to recent court filings. The agents interviewing Flynn knew exactly what he had said to Kislyak – they had a transcript of the call. The purpose of the interview was to try to catch Flynn in a lie. …
Which they did. None of this makes much sense. How could Flynn, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency for two years under Obama, fall for such a simple trap? He must have known that his call on 29 December 2016 to the Russian ambassador would be recorded by US intelligence. Especially with RussiaGate burning. Why would he lie about it to FBI agents, especially since it was a legitimate action (incoming Administrations often set up back-channel contacts with Russia)?
What did Andrew McCabe (then Deputy Director of the FBI) mean when telling the House Intelligence Committee that the two agents who interviewed Flynn “didn’t think he was lying”? Why the contrast between how the FBI handled this investigation vs. their investigation of Hillary Clinton?
Even odder is the theory that Flynn made incriminating statements to the Russian ambassador over an open telephone line (i.e., probably taped by both the Russians and US intel).
Also, why did Flynn not take the elementary precaution of having his personal attorney at the interview with FBI agents? Or better yet, have the White House counsel present?
“The Real Story of the Flynn Hearing.“
Op-ed by Michael Ledeen in the Wall Street Journal.
“Judge Sullivan repeatedly invited Mr. Flynn to reconsider his guilty plea on a charge of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Judge Sullivan stressed that he had not presided over earlier proceedings in the case and that he was prepared to have Mr. Flynn change his plea or even ask for a dismissal of charges. At times, the judge seemed to implore Mr. Flynn to reopen the deal he made with special counsel Robert Mueller, implying that there was reason to believe his guilty plea had been wrongfully arranged.
“Mr. Flynn wasn’t interested. Over and over he told Judge Sullivan that he was comfortable with his confession, did not wish to have it reconsidered, and wanted the judge to pronounce sentence. But Judge Sullivan continued unsuccessfully to invite a change in Mr. Flynn’s plea. …
“It was a bizarre situation. Judge Sullivan clearly did not wish to pass sentence, and he warned Mr. Flynn that the punishment could be greater than the “low end” the prosecutors and defense lawyers alike were seeking and that Mr. Flynn clearly wanted, thereby ending two years of misery.
“One way or another, Mr. Flynn faces a gloomy future. Either he has to revisit the plea – perhaps exposing his son to hostile action from the special counsel, and certainly increasing his legal costs – or insist on sentencing, about which Judge Sullivan was hardly encouraging. …So it’s Mr. Flynn who must decide between two unattractive options.
“The case drags on, as do so many special-prosecutor cases. I had six years of nastiness from independent counsel Lawrence Walsh in the Iran-Contra affair. The government was ultimately ordered to cover my legal costs – but again, it took six years. I entirely understand Mr. Flynn’s wish to put this behind him, and this week’s drama must have infuriated him. There he was, one short step – sentencing – from the finish line. Now who knows? There’s no time limit, Mr. Mueller has an unlimited budget and a big, enthusiastic staff. Mr. Flynn’s lawyers surely told him what Washington lawyers invariably tell their clients: Play the game, get it over with. He did – and it wasn’t good enough for Judge Sullivan.
“I do not believe Mr. Flynn lied to the FBI. I think he lied when he made his deal with Mr. Mueller, and his confession was a false one. The president can provide clarity by releasing all relevant documents.”
Michael Ledeen is a scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (see Wikipedia).
Leeden makes a bizarre guess about Flynn’s innocence. But the official narrative is also bizarre. Not just about Flynn, but the entire story – going back to the alleged hack of the DNC’s servers (and the FBI’s bizarrely lax investigation of it). Plus Trump’s refusal to release documents explaining what is going on. After all, Mueller has them all (and Putin already knows the truth about RussiaGate, whatever it is).
Large forces are moving in America, invisibly. Our confidence in the narrative given us is one of our leaders’ greatest advantages.
About lies
Tucker Carlson pointed out that Mark Zuckerberg lied to Congress, with no consequences. James Clapper, as Director of the NSA, lied to Congress (and failed to even privately correct his testimony afterwards). There is a long list of lies by government officials to Congress, going back decades, often about matters of the greatest importance.
For More Information
Important: See Caitlin Johnstone’s blistering and brilliant analysis: “Mass Media’s Russia Hysteria Is Openly Acknowledging The Power Of Propaganda.”
Ideas! For some shopping ideas, see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about RussiaGate, about propaganda, and especially these…
- A review of Russiagate, its propaganda and hysteria.
- Secrets untold about the DNC hack, the core of RussiaGate.
- Debunking RussiaGate, attempts to stop the new Cold War.
- The secrets of RussiaGate, and what it all means.
- RussiaGate: fragments of a story large beyond imagining.
- We learn the secret origins of RussiaGate.
- Read RussiaGate propaganda, the first step to fighting it.
- The end of RussiaGate approaches, and its stunning truth.
- Hot fake news about RussiaGate! Read all about it!
Propaganda rules America! Read all about it!
Propaganda
Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
The Flynn hearing was like something out of the Twilight Zone, with the judge speculating about treason (Which the prosecution had never alleged) and then walking it back.
We’ve got at least two people in solitary (Manafort, and this Russian woman), and Flynn has been jerked around about his sentence for months. Mueller is essentially torturing witnesses for confessions, and we’ve no idea what anyone is being required to confess to. Trump’s election has essentially caused the Ruling Class to have a nervous breakdown, and your guess about what form that will eventually take is as good as mine. This really is quite different from previous IC investigations. The intelligence agencies that began it have been waging extralegal wars for a long time, and now they are conducting an extralegal investigation. I’ll spare the group my private speculation about the purposes behind it. They can get more entertaining speculation elsewhere and I don’t feel like eating my words later.
Nixon said it’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the coverup. Well, it’s not Trump that’s going to wreck the country and maybe take us into a war with Russia, it’s the panic over Trump. My fear is that that forces have been let loose that no one can control, or even understand. To quote The Joker, “No one panics when everything is going according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying”.
I have several relatives who still believe Mueller’s nonsense and another who still believes Obama was born in Kenya.
No facts will move them. Never underestimate political tribalism and group think.
I appreciate your blog for using critical thinking.
The only other source like that is CDRsalamander blog on naval issues.
The dossier that the Clinton campaign paid for proves everything that Mueller is claiming. Read the dossier. Believe it. Oceania has always been at war with ____ .
I too smell something is coming. I don’t believe John WW3 B would stand for the withdrawal from Syria unless:
(a) Here comes the promised Trump’s revenge or
(b) Something much bigger is coming (Iran, Ukraine …)
There may be the rest of the alphabet there, but I don’t have the time to go deeper beyond the olfactory organs.
As for the obvious insouciance of the North American “general public” — It’s been said countless of times: Learning the truth may be rewarding on one’s intellectual level but not conducive to one’s good mental health (e.g. cognitive dissonance); while swallowing what the P2B want you to think is much safer in many aspects.
Jako,
I can’t make heads or tails of your comment. Unusually, even Google does not help. What is ” John WW3 B”? What is the “promised Trump’s revenge”? Why do you think “something bigger is coming” because we’ve lost in Syria?
Sorry Larry,
I think the less is spoken of the evil the better: bolt-on
Re.:
(a) I thought of “Draining the swamp,” but not as much as to raise world oceans’ level; while I hoped for jail terms to the Russia-Gate conspirators / instigators and lump payment to gen. Flynn.
(b) Syria was lost long time ago and recent ceasefire in Saudi vs. Yemen “war” and/or Kerch incident may also be counted as hints…
OTOH, reading between-the-lines amid the recent propaganda may not be as reliable as used to be (can’t teach an old dog new tricks).
I think ” John WW3 B” must mean John Bolton, who, JaKo seems from this allusion to think, is interested in starting WW3. Don’t know why he should think that, but there you go.
As to the rest of it, I share your mystification. There are similar dark hints in the later reply. This is how the supposedly informed speak about their unjique insights into that which is too explosive to allude to openly.
I guess.
Henrik,
There are hundreds of articles and opinions of respectable people implying that there isn’t anyone more “adept” to commence events that would lead toward a catastrophe; and, when I read some of Mr. B’s speeches while still in the UN, I had to re-read some of the stuff this person produced, to believe my eyes.
I don’t pretend to know more than anyone else here; however, I don’t have this ingrown “Yankee bias” — I never thought of the U.S.A. as “a shining city upon a hill” and chances are I never will. That’s also why I could be immune to the above mentioned mental distress.
I still think this is a forum for us “peasants” to vent our ideas and personal thoughts while not being dismissed by the ever present censorship (Content Disabled), and, not a pundit tribune!
AND, BTW, I still wish my nose was wrong, therefore there’s no direct allusion. And never take pleasure in “I told you so…”
Jako,
I’m unfamiliar with Bolton’s views. But unfortunately America has a full share of warmongers, eager to risk WWIII. That’s been so since WWII. Read or watch “The Virtual JFK”, based on tapes of the White House meetings during the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK was one of the only two sane men in the room. The rest of his national security team, uniformed and civilian, were quite mad.
Larry,
There’s a lot of talk that one thing is to breath fire from the sidelines and a completely different thing is to participate in the game.
Fortunately, Bolton is not dumb and not in position to make decisions. He also said that in view of his new appointment he’ll change his ways!!!
Unfortunately, the last almost-sane member (or at least a grown-up) of the cabinet resigned and beginning March 1st 2019, the field is clear for the lunatics…