Mother Jones: One Simple Question That Could Break the Trump-Russia Scandal Wide Open

[kpete]

The answer might not be too hard to find.

DAVID CORN
MAR. 7, 2017 7:31 AM


The Trump-Russia scandal keeps widening. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned after revelations that he had privately talked to Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about the sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment for its hacking of political targets during the 2016 election to aid Donald Trump. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to recuse himself from Justice Department or FBI investigations involving Russia and the Trump campaign after he was caught falsely claiming he had not interacted with Russian officials during the campaign, when he was a top Trump adviser. (He, too, had met with Kislyak.) News reports keep yielding more information indicating Trump associates were in contact with Russian officials and possibly Russian intelligence. Reportedly there is at least one FBI investigation on this front; the House and Senate intelligence committees have each launched their own probes. And this past weekend, Trump had a Twitter meltdown and hurled the unsubstantiated Breitbart-born accusation that Obama had illegally spied on him in Trump Tower. It is becoming tough to track all the developments, as the story becomes more complicated and the prospects for a long and complex investigation increase. But there is a simple question that might be easy to answer and that could cut to the chase.

What happened during Flynn's conversations with Kislyak before the election?

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When the Washington Post broke the news that Flynn had spoken with Kislyak during the transition, the newspaper's reporters spoke to the Russian ambassador who revealed a fact that has not received sufficient public attention: Flynn and Kislyak were in communication prior to Election Day. This statement belied all the Trump camp claims that there had been no hobnobbing with the Russians during the campaign. But the implications run deeper.

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So from the start of June until Election Day, it was widely noted that the Russians were either the likely perps or the guilty party—that is, Putin's government had conducted a secret operation to influence an American election. Though it would take the intelligence community until after the election to reach the conclusion that this scheme was mounted to benefit Trump, it did seem obvious throughout the campaign season that Clinton was being harmed by the operation and Trump was being helped.

All this means that when Flynn was talking to Kislyak—or any other Russian government officials—during the campaign, he was in contact with a foreign power waging political warfare against the United States and had reason to suspect or know this. And throughout the summer and fall campaign, Flynn, who was already cozy with Moscow (having accepted a speaking fee to hang out with Putin at a Moscow gala for RT in December 2015), was Trump's most senior foreign policy aide. (He was given a prime speaking spot at the Republican national convention.)



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the rest:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/one-simple-question-could-break-trump-russia-scandal-wide-open

[flamingdem]

1. Wonder why no transcripts have appeared

Someone is not talking, or leaking. Maybe another country has them but they cannot be used as evidence here.

[MedusaX]

2. Maybe

It is because they will be used as evidence in a future criminal case against someone other than Flynn..,,
And releasing them now would undermine and possibly destroy the potential for bringing charges/successfully prosecuting ....

[flamingdem]

3. Hoping this is so. Rep Adam Schiff said that they

might try to supoena this material from the FBI and I noticed that Schumer later commented on this saying that this request was not going to work, though the reason why was vague legally, but could be related to your point.

[FakeNoose]

5. Somebody should ask Sally Yates

'Memba her? Sally was the acting DOJ head when she was fired by Trump.
But she's also the one who reported the FBI finding to Obama (who originally appointed her).
Sally's got the facts, however I'm not sure if she can reveal anything right now.

Seems to me that if Trump fired her, she should be able to tell us what she knows. She IS a Democrat after all.

[ffr]

4. So was Jeff Sessions. THey were all waging political warfare against the United States

Lock them up!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Sessions might be in on it. GOP platform was changed at RNCONvention Sessions met Kislyak.

Groundwork probably laid long before Flynn talked to Kislyak or even Sessions.

Quid: Russian interference in election plus shares of Rosneft.

pro Quo: GOP dials back Ukrainian resolution at the convention and promises reductions in sanctions later. Kislyak was probably there to maintain profile vis-a-vis the tRump gang to hold them to their word. To see and be seen by the unreliable tRump gang.

It's getting complicated now since Trump/GOP saying they will stand tough on Ukraine. Perhaps to deflect the Trump-Russia Scandal investigations. And Putin's media souring on Trump; again perhaps a dodge to relieve pressure for investigations.

[SunSeeker]

7. The FBI should release the transcripts.

This is just the sort of "matter of great national interest" that Comey mentioned in justifying his realeasing just 11 days before the election that letter about Hillary emails that turned out to be nothing.