CLEVELAND, Ohio — Just one day after Sean Spicer said Michael Flynn’s resignation was demanded because he misled Vice President Pence, President Donald Trump praised Flynn and blamed press leaks for his ouster.
At a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump made the following remarks about Flynn:
“Gen. Flynn, is a wonderful man. I think he has been treated very, very unfairly by the media, as l call it, the fake media in many cases. And I think it’s a really a sad thing that he was treated so badly.
From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. It’s criminal action, criminal act, and it’s been going on for a long time, before me, but now it’s really going on.”
“Illegal leaking” was going on for a long time during the 2016 presidential campaign and Trump was applauding it and urging more leaks.
At a July, 2016 campaign stop, candidate Trump infamously called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s computers.
“I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” said Trump, gleefully.
Trump routinely cheered and hyped Wikileaks releasing hacked emails from the Clinton campaign and the DNC. “I love WikiLeaks, ” Trump would often shout.
The New York Times was targeted by Trump as a “failing newspaper” and “fake news,” after they broke stories on Flynn misleading Pence, and that the Trump campaign had routine contact with Russian intelligence operatives. The New York Times is the same paper that broke the Hillary Clinton email stories. Trump wasn’t dismissing it as “fake news” when Hillary Clinton’s email story was on the front pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Trump’s comment on Flynn just confirmed what I and many other commenters wrote and said– that Flynn was only fired because news of his having misled Pence was leaked to the press, not because he misled Pence, and Trump no longer trusted him.
Had the damning Flynn information not been leaked to the press, Flynn would still be National Security Adviser. The United Sates would still have a National Security Adviser who was compromised enough that the DOJ warned the president his National Security Adviser could be blackmailed. Trump would still have a National Security Adviser who misled his Vice President. We should be thankful that alarmed whoever justifiably leaked the information, because it certainly didn’t alarm President Trump and still doesn’t alarm his apologists.
Flynn is not out of the woods yet. The joint investigation by the FBI-CIA-NSA is ongoing. Reportedly, the FBI did not believe Flynn was fully forthcoming when they interviewed him. While Kellyanne Conway is now infamous for her “Alternative Facts,” Flynn has long been notorious for spinning what have been dubbed “Flynn Facts.” It just wasn’t the phone calls about sanctions that prompted the DOJ to warn Trump about Flynn.
Trump and Flynn apologists are falsely claiming Flynn was illegally wire tapped. Flynn’s conversations were picked up on routine and legal surveillance of Russian operatives. It should concern all Americans that Trump had a National Security Adviser who was apparently oblivious that his phone calls with a Russian Ambassador would be picked up by not only US intel, but also foreign intel agencies. An entry-level CIA staffer would know that. Also, the FBI-CIA-NSA investigation is backed by a FISA warrant, which allows them to access information that foreign intel agencies have gathered.
This may come as a surprise to Trump, Flynn, and Bannon, but there are plenty of people working for the FBI, CIA and NSA, who take their oath to uphold and protect the U.S, Constitution seriously. So seriously that when they have evidence of a threat to that Constitution and National Security, they aren’t going to remain silent, especially if those threats are working in The White House.
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