In the latest episode of Russiagate, General Mike Flynn supposedly has offered to testify in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional officials investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution, according to officials with knowledge of the matter.
The last sentence has the reek of #FakeNews on it, but this isn’t the first source that indicates that Flynn is thinking of doing this. So it deserves consideration.
The two questions I have are these:
- Has Flynn actually committed any sort of crime? The article mentions a violation of the Emoluments Clause, but I’m not aware of that being any sort of felony. Was he bribed?
- What would he have to offer in exchange for immunity? Former DNI James Clapper has already publicly stated that the Obama Administration found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Putin’s government, though it sure looks like Flynn was writing checks his ass couldn’t cash from the
wiretapsincidental intelligence collection we already know about.
Given that nobody is in any position to grant immunity to Flynn just yet, I’m going to have to withhold judgement on this story. We’ll see what changes if he’s charged.
Assuming that this isnt some kind of head fake…
I wonder if Comey ought to be worried about his job too…
Here’s a generous spin on this from his council: https://mobile.twitter.com/robkelner/status/847590575352270850/photo/1?
My favorite part of this:
“When you are given immunity, that means you have probably committed a crime.” – Michael Flynn, September 2016
That will be illuminating IF it turns out that he has asked for immunity.
That’s how I read that letter from his lawyer. Are you not seeing it that way?
No, that’s not what “immunity” is. You can read it however you like, but it’s clear you guys are going to be disappointed by anything he has to say if he testifies.
You guys are behind, the real fake news is that Trump is considering resignation because of this. Using my usual 50/50 approach, I choose to interpret ‘assurance against unfair prosecution’ as asking for immunity from prosecution.
You’re free to interpret it as you see fit. I’m just saying that you’re on the road to heartbreak. Immunity is given to someone who is under criminal investigation in exchange for testimony against another target. The quote you took out of context from Flynn refers to Clinton staffers who may have mishandled confidential information in violation of the Espionage Act were granted immunity in exchange for statements about Hillary Clinton, who was gthe target of a criminal investigation. But tell me, is Flynn under criminal investigation? Not that I’ve heard. People don’t ask for or get immunity if they’re… Read more »
But….But…PUTIN!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2a44F5TgM
Hey Zurvan, what do you think about the Evelyn Farkas video? I’ve avoided posting on it because it’s in the “too good to be true” realm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euq0NitCFZk
But he is not choosing not to testify. He is choosing to testify if they guarantee immunity from prosecution. You don’t have to be under investigation to get immunity. Someone else can be under investigation, you can offer to testify in exchange for immunity. Remember the SATs? Flynn is to staffer like Trump is to Clinton. Not sure how my quote was out of context? He was referring to Clinton staffers getting immunity before they would agree to testify, which, now that Flynn is trying to do it, is just a wise precaution, right? Look, I don’t believe that Trump… Read more »
Well, if you’re admitting that all you want is a distracting scandal that you know has no merit, then yeah: mission accomplished. But Benghazi didn’t do the GOP much good in unseating Obama in 2012 and I don’t see how Russiagate does much for knocking Trump out in 2020 either. Sooner or later, your party is going to have to face what Wikileaks revealed. Also, it’s going to have to acknowledge why Trump won and it had nothing to do with Russia. The more your team obsesses over scandals that you know to be fake, the longer it’s putting off… Read more »
I think it’s pretty clear by this point that Flynn has shown himself to be untrustworthy. There has been enough of a trickle of news about his prior associations that make me think the Feds would have some sort of case were it all to be laid bare. His motivations aren’t really clear though–does he resent Trump for firing him and wants vengeance? Is this a head fake to expose info indicting Obama? Is he just trying to innocently clear his name? Whatever the case, it will take the intelligence committee working through the proposition, considering what he really would… Read more »
This level of delusion is impressive. I’ve read the law. Even if I was a dyed in the wool Democrat, I would be forced to admit Clinton broke the law by putting classified email on a private server. Equating that to the absolute lack of proof of anything illegal going on in regards to Trump or Flynn is nuts.
Wow, I had not seen that video. She definitely alludes to the Obama Administration knowingly spying on Russia/Trump, which is what Trump claimed, and Obama denied. Why isn’t this bigger news? Context that is missing?
I don’t know. Her damage control is awful though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D-nDGSzQg4
I’d be amazed if she doesn’t get subpoenaed herself.
I love the logic that we don’t need to investigate Trump because there is no proof he did anything wrong.
Which law did Clinton break? Why did multiple investigations clear her? Why is she still not on trial, what with the GOP in control of both the executive and the legislative?
Is it Obama’s fault somehow?
First of all, the Democrats are doing something. They have literally just fired the whole DNC. I am not sure why you think the narrative is crumbling, though? More and more people are getting swept up into the story. Also keep in eye on Russia, itself. Interesting stuff going on which might either lead to blood on the streets or new people in power. One might make cozying up to Putin less palatable, the other might reveal some info. Either way, we live in interesting times. But it’s good to know that you plan to vote to re-elect the man… Read more »
I honestly don’t see what you guys are seeing. The woman is talking about the NYT article (your clip is edited, this is the article which they throw on the screen in the full clip – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/politics/obama-trump-russia-election-hacking.html?_r=0) and only saying that they spy on the Russians, they don’t want the Trump people to reveal the sources to the Russians or sweep the election tampering investigation under the rug. You are high if you think that somehow adds up to spying on Trump himself, or that she would be in a position to know about it, if it was happening. She… Read more »
More people swept into it? We were talking about Flynn in January and we’re still talking about him. If the Democrats had anything devastating on Russia, they would have used it by now. The whole story now is about the investigation and nothing new has been leaked since Trump fired a shot across the bow of the leakers with his tweet about Obama wiretapping him. There’s nothing new under the sun, unless you think the weaksauce with Nunes amounts to much. Even then, what he has to say is a threat to the Obama White House people, not Trump’s. You… Read more »
Wasn’t Kushner getting swept up into the story? He met with Kilslyak? I am honestly paying way more attention to the stuff in Russia proper than to this.
What has Trump done that you would consider the right track? I am asking sincerely. Aside from making us look like idiots abroad, I have not seen much in the way of actual movement. What am I missing?
It looks like he won’t be getting a deal, at least from the Senate:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/senate-intelligence-committee-rejects-immunity-michael-flynn-n741061
He kept his campaign promise and nominated Gorsuch, who will be confirmed. As I’ve said, this was my primary reason to vote for him. It goes without saying that I approve of the travel ban, even if I think the reasoning behind it is flawed. We’ve discussed that before. I favor his increased enforcement of immigration laws. I haven’t seen any numbers yet that indicate deportations of illegal immigrants are up, but I expect that they are. I approve of him strangling the Obamacare mandate with his EO that that obligates the IRS and other agencies to grant waivers where… Read more »
If their sole focus is to see Flynn, who was already fired over this whole affair, prosecuted and nothing more than that; then they’re going about it the right way. But if the sum total of Russiagate is going to be nailing Flynn on an obstruction or perjury charge, it shows how weak this “scandal” is.
Has shades of the Bush-era “Plamegate”, really. What did the Democrats get for all that? Scooter Libby. Great job, Democrats!
I would like to know what the hell this was all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAIkJVaZwEY
he had to pee.?
Funny you say that. That’s the conclusion I drew. God, he’s weird.
I love the logic that we don’t need to investigate Trump because there is no proof he did anything wrong. Nowhere did I imply we shouldn’t investigate what happened between Flynn and the Russians. I did say there is zero actual evidence thus far that any law was broken, which is true. Which law did Clinton break? The Director of the FBI outlined that she did in fact have emails on her server that were classified at the time they were sent/received, that is without question, despite many liberals still not believing/knowing it. U.S. Code § 1924 Whoever, being an… Read more »
Well now. The latest person “swept up” into the scandal is Susan Rice. If Democrats don’t come up with some real evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia pretty quickly, the whole story is going to be about the Obama Administration gathering intelligence on its political opponents and then illegally leaking it.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/04/susan-rice-unmasked/