The blackmail factor: Trumpworlds Russia lies are a major risk to national security
by Matthew Yglesias at Vox
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/12/15955314/trump-russia-blackmail
"SNIP.............
The Trump team’s habit of lying in public about its contacts with various official and unofficial emissaries of the Russian government is problematic on its own terms, but especially troubling because it raises the possibility that American foreign policy could be influenced by the fear of blackmail.
That, you’ll recall, was the basis for the original bombshell Trump/Russia leak story in which it came out that US government surveillance of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak revealed that he and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had discussions about sanctions during the Obama-Trump transition period. For an incoming administration staffer to discuss sanctions with an ambassador is not a crime or necessarily scandalous. But Flynn, seemingly aware of the political sensitivities around the Trump/Russia nexus, lied about the conversation both externally and internally to the administration.
Sally Yates, the acting attorney general at the time, saw the problem. She warned White House Counsel Don McGahn that “the national security adviser essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians.”
The theory here is simple. If you lie to the public about meetings with the Russian government, the Russian government will know that you lied and could threaten to release embarrassing and personally damaging information unless you take positions they like.
...............SNIP"
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