National Security

The Intelligence Community Has Receipts on Flynn

Written by SK Ashby

The Trump regime has publicly denied that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian diplomats before Trump was sworn into office, which could be a violation of the Logan Act, but unfortunately for them Flynn's conversations were recorded and transcribed.

Nine sources who spoke to the Washington Post confirmed that Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

All of those officials said ­Flynn’s references to the election-related sanctions were explicit. Two of those officials went further, saying that Flynn urged Russia not to overreact to the penalties being imposed by President Barack Obama, making clear that the two sides would be in position to review the matter after Trump was sworn in as president.

The most amazing and possibly underappreciated aspect of this story may be Flynn's profound, aloof stupidity.

Flynn was once the Director of National Intelligence, meaning he knew or should have known that Sergey Kislyak's communications were being monitored. And yet he committed a possibly illegal act over lines that were being monitored.

That's the kind of oversight you could expect from a child discussing his plans to skip school over an open home phone line. Flynn is currently our nation's top national security adviser and he doesn't appear to be adept at managing his own security.