Flynn was warned by Trump transition officials about contacts with Russian ambassador

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post



By Greg Miller and Adam Entous May 5 at 6:13 PM

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was warned by senior members of then President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team about the risks of his contacts with the Russian ambassador weeks before the December call that led to Flynn’s forced resignation, current and former U.S. officials said.

Flynn was told during a late November meeting that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s conversations were almost certainly being monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said, a caution that came a month before Flynn was recorded discussing U.S. sanctions against Russia with Kislyak, suggesting that the Trump administration would reevaluate the issue.

Officials were so concerned that Flynn did not fully understand the motives of the Russian ambassador that the head of Trump’s national security council transition team asked Obama administration officials for a classified CIA profile of Kislyak, officials said. The document was delivered within days, officials said, but it is not clear that Flynn ever read it.

The previously undisclosed sequence reveals the extent to which even some Trump insiders were troubled by the still-forming administration’s entanglements with Russia and enthusiasm for a friendly relationship with the Kremlin.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/flynn-was-warned-by-trump-transition-officials-about-contacts-with-russian-ambassador/2017/05/05/b552c832-3192-11e7-8674-437ddb6e813e_story.html?pushid=590cf9ebfdd5491d00000017&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.6cff96903e16

[PJMcK]

1. Michael Flynn must be an idiot

Here's a man who worked in the highest levels of the US intelligence services. Did he not understand that nearly all major foreign officials are monitored? Did he even consider that he'd be observed and recorded?

What a moron. His son is a jackass, too.

[nikibatts]

2. Ahhh...so they knew...

[padah513]

3. Yep

Pence knew and lied.

[Leghorn21]

11. Ah, let me let this sink in:

Pence lied. Pence lied. Pence lied.

Mmm mmm mmm.

Thanks, padah, and welcome to DU!

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. Of course they knew and lied.

[procon]

7. The cover up has ended many a career. nt

[snpsmom]

5. So this is how they're going to spin it?

They "warned him." He was the one bad apple, and he went against orders. The administration tried to do the right thing, though.

Sorry, boys, I'm not buying it.

[ananda]

6. Agree.

This is a lot of garbage. They're all guilty traitors.

[enough]

8. +1. Right, they TRIED todo the right thing and somehow couldn't. NT

[creeksneakers2]

13. Me neither

I think the reason Flynn went ahead despite the warning was because Trump was telling him to. Nobody seems to ask about Trumps role in this.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Am wondering

if his arrogance in proceeding with those contacts was because he has some dirt on some higher ups and if they attempted to scapegoat him, he would retaliate.

[Mike Nelson]

10. President...

...Trump and Pence better think up better lies - they have to line up with previous versions of the truth.

[MedusaX]

12. Interesting that 2/3 Concerned Transition Members are not Administration Team members...

And that the "Concerned" member which actually requested the Kislyak profile (in an attempt to deter Flynn from communicating with Kislyak )
left the Transition Team right before the inauguration.....
But was just this week nominated for a high level Treasury position...


Flynn knew his communications w/Kislyak would be monitored....

Billingslea warned Flynn that Kislyak was likely a target of U.S. surveillance and that his communications — whether with U.S. persons or superiors in Moscow — were undoubtedly being monitored by the FBI and National Security Agency, according to officials familiar with the exchange. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who led the Defense Intelligence Agency, would presumably have been aware of such surveillance.

Billingslea then said that he would obtain a copy of the profile of Kislyak, officials said, a document that Billingslea urged Flynn to read if he were going to communicate with the Russian envoy. Flynn’s reaction was noncommittal, officials said, neither objecting to the feedback nor signaling agreement.

Which likely means the whole Administration was brimming with excessive confidence and believing that they were untouchable....

If only 1 or 2 were "in on it" then they would be extra careful not to draw the attention of others...

But if the whole place is run by co-conspirators then no need to tip toe around...

But over confidence can be dangerous--
The more you show your ass...
the more likely it is that some swamp dweller will leap up and bite it...

[.99center]

14. So Trump tipped off Flynn, then gave Flynn access to the NSA.

I'm sure Trump and the WH didn't fully understand Flynn's motives as he plotted a kidnapping while he was head of the NSA. There's no way that Trump put Putin's moles into the WH intentionally, he's never even spoke to or met with Putin!