S.F.M.D. (Silly Flynn Makin’ Dollas)

[BK’s note: I still think President Donald Trump lacks the emotional stability to serve in public office so don’t twist my opinions in this piece into an endorsement of his administration.]

The anti-Trump movement has been giddy these days since hearing that recently fired National security Advisor Michael Flynn offered to speak with Russiagate investigators in exchange for immunity. Flynn was forced out of the Trump Administration after it was revealed that he discussed US sanctions against Russia with Russian ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak in 2016, but did not disclose these conversations to Trump officials.

As we’ve learned from the experience of granting members of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s circle immunity in exchange for testimony about her email practices, there’s no guarantee that granting immunity will result in anyone getting arrested.

But let’s take a step backward and discuss the legal trouble Flynn finds himself in.

Because his silly azz couldn’t wait a few weeks until he was sworn-in as a government official to have a chat with Kislyak, Flynn could face jail time for violating a rare law from 1799(!)

(Laughing) And if Flynn can manage to be one of the few US officials to get caught up by the Logan Act, who knows what other legal troubles his lack of common sense created?

I’ll hit that point later, but we don’t know the full answer to that question — yet.

Let’s come back to the present and raise a related question: who the hell knows what Flynn wants to talk about with investigators?

Until we hear what Flynn has to say, we don’t know if the US’s Russia investigation will be any closer to determining if [1] Team Trump collaborated with Russia to steer the outcome of last November’s presidential elections, or [2] the Trump Administration is currently on the Russian payroll as agents.

“What about the $67,000 in payments he received from Russia,” you may ask.

Even if you ignore how President Bill Clinton, like Flynn, received money from Russians in the form of speaking fees — the former Leader of the Free World made $500,000 from a single speech delivered to a Russian entity with ties to the Kremlin — you can’t look past a Washington Post piece that subtly points out how the $45,000 Flynn received from speaking at a 2015 event sponsored by Russian media organization RT was a result of RT talking down Flynn’s initial asking price, which Flynn then had to split with the speakers bureau that helped to book the gig.

Does openly driving a hard bargain against a “Russian agent” for speaking fees make sense to you?

Given how Flynn’s common sense seems to fail him at important moments, I’m not surprised that he withheld the Russian payment transactions as a way to avoid a witch-hunting media firestorm. After all, it’s not easy explaining to the public any Russian relationship you have these days.

But he should have known by now that the US government would soon discover those payments, thus making his lack of disclosure ridiculous.

Besides, Flynn could be tossed in jail for filing false financial disclosure reports.

But the fact that Flynn is a hot mess with respect to his personal business does not yet tell us anything about him being a Russian lackey.

Until we know what Flynn has to say, we’re back to the same level of insight we’ve been in since November 8th 2016: there is no evidence at this point which points to members of the Trump team colluding with Russia to influence the presidential elections, or that members of the Trump Administration are on the Russian payroll to perform Russia’s bidding.

Let’s revisit this topic after Flynn talks …

song currently stuck in my head: “hundred of times” – hotmood