Why the Michael Flynn “Scandal” is a Giant Nothingburger
The resistance thinks it will bring down Trump; It won’t
Paul Joseph Watson
PrisonPlanet.com
December 1, 2017
As news broke that Michael Flynn would testify that Donald Trump ordered him to talk to the Russians during the transition phase between administrations, the left exploded with glee that actual evidence of “Russian collusion” was in sight and it could bring down Trump.
The reality turned out to be somewhat disappointing for them.
ABC News reported that Trump directed Flynn to speak with the Russians “initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria.”
In other words, Trump committed the grievous sin of attempting to work diplomatically with another super power to defeat Islamic terrorism.
This is hardly the damaging revelation Trump’s enemies had been hoping for.
“Sorry to be a party-pooper but if this is the extent of the “directive” Flynn received, it’s incredibly mundane,” commented journalist Michael Tracey.
As the National Review’s Andrew McCarthy points out, “There’s less to the news than meets the eye.”
“It remains unclear why the Obama Justice Department chose to investigate Flynn. There was nothing wrong with the incoming national-security adviser’s having meetings with foreign counterparts or discussing such matters as the sanctions in those meetings. Plus, if the FBI had FISA recordings of Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak, there was no need to ask Flynn what the conversations entailed,” he writes.
“Flynn is prepared to testify that Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians — initially to lay the groundwork for mutual efforts against ISIS in Syria. That, however, is exactly the sort of thing the incoming national-security adviser is supposed to do in a transition phase between administrations. If it were part of the basis for a “collusion” case arising out of Russia’s election meddling, then Flynn would not be pleading guilty to a process crime — he’d be pleading guilty to an espionage conspiracy.”
In other words, for Flynn’s behavior to be proof of “Russian collusion” that embroils Trump, he would have had to had access to a time machine given that he spoke with Kislyak after the election.
The notion that Trump colluded with Russia by asking Flynn to speak to Ambassador Kislyak is also ludicrous.
As the passage below highlights, hundreds of Congressman, Senators and members of the State Department have met with Kislyak since he became ambassador in 2008.
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