The Trump White House Is Screwed, Big League

[swag]

https://newrepublic.com/article/140631/trump-white-house-screwed-big-league

Michael Flynn's resignation is just the beginning of this major national security scandal involving Russia.
By Brian Beutler
February 14, 2017

. . .

So let’s assume Flynn just jumped on a grenade for his boss. Trump may have believed Moscow would never rat Flynn out, and may still believe Flynn will never claim—or prove—he was just following orders. But the truth is, Trump can’t be sure his own involvement won’t be exposed. And that compromises him, as well. It’s not just that Pence, Flynn, and Spicer should feel as if Trump hung them out to dry—it’s that he did so in a way that gives powerful people, perhaps even Russian intelligence officials, leverage over his administration.

The story is explosive, in other words, even when it’s walled off from other things we know: That Flynn and Kislyak were reportedly in contact, not just during the transition, but before the election. That other members of the Trump team and their Russian contacts are reportedly under federal investigation, stemming from a broader investigation into Russian subversion. That those inquiries are apparently significant enough that FBI director James Comey was initially reluctant to alert the White House to Flynn’s susceptibility to blackmail out of fear it would undermine the bureau’s work. That the intelligence community has corroborated certain non-sexual claims in the Trump-opposition dossier.

Flynn’s out now, and if he has information that’s pertinent to Comey’s investigation, he’s a major loose end—especially if he has his own legal trouble. But Republicans on Capitol Hill and the White House are pretending Flynn’s resignation brings the story to an end.

It’s hard to focus on regressive tax cuts if the president of your party is at the center of a major national security scandal. Republicans might be able to slow down the unraveling with this kind of willful blindness to the significance of what just happened. But they probably can’t stop it altogether. They will be lucky if this ends with senior members of Trump’s White House and doesn’t ultimately ensnare Trump himself.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. I wish, but unless McCain and Graham and others demand it, NOTHING will be done

[Amaryllis]

2. Sen. Wyden says McCain is on board for Russia investigations:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016177278
Senator Wyden is Hell-bent on Getting Out the Truth About Trump and Russia (Mother Jones)

Wyden has six fellow Democratic members of the intelligence committee, including Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chairman of the panel, to be part of the monitoring process. And Warner, Wyden, and others have said that if the committee's investigation doesn't meet their expectations, they will call for another inquiry—perhaps an independent bipartisan commission. But Wyden noted that there is a possible wild card within the committee: McCain. He is not a full-time member, but as the chairman of the Senate armed services committee, he is an ex-officio member of the intelligence committee and has the right to know all its secrets. Consequently, he, too, can track the investigation and evaluate the amount of information the committee releases to the public. "Don't underestimate the importance of having the chairman of the Senate armed services committee making it clear he's going to insist on answers and getting to the bottom of it," Wyden remarked.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. Have to have a patriot somewhere in the GOP or this goes nowhere.

If McCain wants to be thought of as a patriot by actual patriots, he must step up.