I finally have:
"Who is Michael Flynn, Part 2 ?"
My November 12 article titled:
"Who is Michael Flynn, Part 1 ?",
was very short:
"Michael Flynn, fired after only 24 days on the job, was one of the first Trump associates to come under scrutiny in the federal probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign
Flynn was paid $530,000 in 2016 for work the Justice Department claims benefited the government of Turkey.
Flynn did not register as a foreign lobbyist at the time -- a very common violation, that is rarely prosecuted -- but did so retroactively this year.
His lawyer later claimed Flynn didn't need to register because his client was a Turkish businessman, not a Turkish government official, but Flynn opted to do so retroactively.
I'll add to this article as more information becomes available."
Here's Part 2:
THE BIG PICTURE:
The main case against General Flynn appears to be lying about, or failing to remember, phone calls with the Russian Ambassador to the US.
Flynn's calls were made AFTER the election.
Flynn was told to make the calls
by people in the Trump transition team.
Flynn's calls were not crimes
-- he was requesting Russian actions
for the benefit of the US
-- there was no logical reason
to lie about the calls
-- maybe Flynn just has a bad memory?
One phone conversation involved de-escalating the deteriorating diplomatic relations between President Obama and Putin after the election.
That call worked.
Another phone conversation involved asking Russia to vote against a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements -- a resolution that Trump opposed.
That call didn't work.
DETAILS:
It took me until the Robert Mueller's "Statement of the (Flynn) Offense" was released on December 1 to get these details on Flynn:
Flynn was the only original Trump appointee
I seriously objected to,
due to some flaky comments
he had made on the internet.
I wondered why Flynn was appointed in the first place,
and happy he was gone in less than a month.
Flynn resigned (fired the polite way) after 24 days,
in February 2017.
We already knew Flynn was a liar, or had a poor memory, because he was fired after four weeks for lying to, or misinforming, Vice President Pence, for no logical reason.
It is puzzling why Flynn deliberately lied to the FBI, or didn't remember, perfectly legal phone contacts with the Russian Ambassador AFTER the election.
Flynn said he was asked to make those legal phone calls (the usual leaks claim he was asked by Mr. Kushner and Ms. MacFarland), to promote Russian actions beneficial to the US, which is also perfectly legal.
It appears that Flynn's main "crime" was lying to the FBI, or forgetting, several legal phone calls that were not crimes!
Lying to the FBI is the "Martha Stewart crime" --
James Comey's FBI sent her to prison
in spite of the fact she did not do insider trading,
and was never charged with insider trading.
If I had been President, I'd have pardoned Ms. Stewart, and fired James Comey for the FBI's malicious prosecution of Stewart.
President Trump should be getting ready to pardon Flynn, who did not commit any crime by talking to the Russian Ambassador.
Unless you have a photographic memory, the FBI can question you for many hours and later prove there was something you didn't remember, or remembered wrong.
I can barely remember things I did yesterday!
Lying, forgetting or mis-remembering, when no crime was committed, is much different than lying to hide a crime, and should never be prosecuted, IMHO!
Anyone with sense would answer every FBI question with "I don't recall" (the Hillary Clinton technique),
or just take the Fifth Amendment and say nothing.
Prior indictments against Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos also have NOTHING to do with collusion.
Flynn said he was acting under instructions from senior Trump transition officials in his legal phone contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.
Flynn also said he “called a senior official of the Trump team at Mar-a-Lago” to discuss a United Nations resolution that Flynn later talked about with Kislyak.
Flynn admitted making false statements to the FBI about asking the Russian Ambassador in late December to “refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States (Obama) had imposed on Russia that same day.”
Flynn did not recall the Ambassador “subsequently telling him that Russia did chose to moderate its response to those Obama sanctions as a result of his request”.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb responded to the Flynn accusations, saying that:
"the false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials
which resulted in his resignation
in February of this year.
Nothing about the guilty plea
or the charge implicates anyone
other than Mr. Flynn."
On December 1 Special Counsel Mueller released his
"Statement of the Offense"
Here is a key section:
"On or about December 28, 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13757, which was to take effect the following day.
The executive order announced sanctions against Russia in response to that government's actions intended to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.
On or about December 28, 2016, the Russian Ambassador contacted FLYNN.
On or about December 29, 2016, FLYNN called a senior official of the Presidential Transition Team ("PTT official"), who was with other senior members of the Presidential Transition Team at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss what, if anything, to communicate to the Russian Ambassador about the U.S. Sanctions.
On that call, FLYNN and the PTT official discussed the U.S. Sanctions, including the potential impact of those sanctions on the incoming administration's foreign policy goals.
The PTT official and FLYNN also discussed that the members of the Presidential Transition Team at Mar-a-Lago did not want Russia to escalate the situation.
Immediately after his phone call with the PTT official, FLYNN called the Russian Ambassador and requested that Russia not escalate the situation and only respond to the U.S. Sanctions in a reciprocal manner.
Shortly after his phone call with the Russian Ambassador, FLYNN spoke with the PTT official to report on the substance of his call with the Russian Ambassador, including their discussion of the U.S. Sanctions.
On or about December 30, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin released a statement indicating that Russia would not take retaliatory measures in response to the U.S. Sanctions at that time.
On or about December 31, 2016, the Russian Ambassador called FLYNN and informed him that Russia had chosen not to retaliate in response to FLYNN's request.
After his phone call with the Russian Ambassador, FLYNN spoke with senior members of the Presidential Transition Team about FLYNN's conversations with the Russian Ambassador regarding the U.S. Sanctions and Russia's decision not to escalate the situation."
(2)
There was also another legal phone contact between Flynn and the Russian Ambassador, AFTER the election, over a UN vote.
On December 21, 2016, Egypt submitted a resolution to the United Nations Security Council, against Israeli settlements, scheduled for a vote the next day!
A senior member of the Presidential Transition Team directed Flynn to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, to learn where each government stood on the resolution, and to influence those governments to defeat the anti-Israel resolution,
or at least delay the vote.
On December 22, 2016, Flynn informed the Russian Ambassador that Trump opposed the resolution and wanted Russia to vote against it, or at least delay the vote.
On December 23, 2016, the Russian Ambassador informed Flynn that Russia would NOT vote against the resolution.
Other Flynn False Statements:
On March 7, 2017, Flynn filed Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) documents about a project performed his company, the Flynn Intel Group, Inc. (FIG), for the principal benefit of the Republic of Turkey.
Flynn allegedly falsely stated that FIG did not know whether, or the extent to which, the Republic of Turkey was involved in the Turkey project, and the Turkey project was focused on improving U.S. business organizations' confidence regarding doing business in Turkey.
Only six people have ever been prosecuted for FARA violations, although it is a very common "crime".
Wasn't Robert Mueller supposed to be uncovering what Russia did BEFORE the election, to help get Trump elected, not phone calls made AFTER the election ?
