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" With Michael Flynn's resignation, the Flynn story is not done—and neither is the need for an investigation of Flynn and his contacts with Russia.
Late on Monday night, Flynn, Donald Trump's combative and controversial national security adviser, quit his post, after days of incoming fire following a Washington Post report that he had lied about his December contacts with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. After news of his conversations with the Russian broke last month, Flynn insisted that they had not discussed the sanctions imposed on Moscow by President Barack Obama as punishment for the operation ordered by Vladimir Putin to influence the 2016 election and help Trump.
And Flynn had apparently made this claim to Vice President Mike Pence, who days before the inauguration publicly asserted Flynn's communications with Kislyak were innocent. (A widespread assumption was that Flynn had privately indicated to the Russian ambassador that the Trump administration would dial back the sanctions.)
But Flynn had pulled a dumb move, for, as he should have known, US intelligence was intercepting the communications of Kislyak, and transcripts of their chats indicated Flynn and the Russian had indeed talked about the sanctions. And these transcripts were shared among various US government agencies.
Before Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for not enforcing his Muslim travel ban, last month she warned the Trump White House that Flynn had misrepresented the calls and was therefore vulnerable to Russian blackmail. That warning was enough reason for Trump to boot Flynn, but he did not.
It took the increasing criticism of Flynn and the mounting calls for an investigation of recent days for the White House to request that Flynn find another perch for his anti-Islam crusade.
Flynn's departure should not end the demands for an investigation. One tantalizing and somewhat overlooked aspect of the Post story that did him in was the fact that Flynn hobnobbed with Kislyak during the campaign. The paper reported that the Flynn-Kislyak conversations "were part of a series of contacts between Flynn and Kislyak that began before the Nov. 8 election and continued during the transition, officials said." And the paper noted, "Kislyak said that he had been in contact with Flynn since before the election, but declined to answer questions about the subjects they discussed." "
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/why-michael-flynn-still-needs-to-be-investigated-russia
Late on Monday night, Flynn, Donald Trump's combative and controversial national security adviser, quit his post, after days of incoming fire following a Washington Post report that he had lied about his December contacts with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. After news of his conversations with the Russian broke last month, Flynn insisted that they had not discussed the sanctions imposed on Moscow by President Barack Obama as punishment for the operation ordered by Vladimir Putin to influence the 2016 election and help Trump.
And Flynn had apparently made this claim to Vice President Mike Pence, who days before the inauguration publicly asserted Flynn's communications with Kislyak were innocent. (A widespread assumption was that Flynn had privately indicated to the Russian ambassador that the Trump administration would dial back the sanctions.)
But Flynn had pulled a dumb move, for, as he should have known, US intelligence was intercepting the communications of Kislyak, and transcripts of their chats indicated Flynn and the Russian had indeed talked about the sanctions. And these transcripts were shared among various US government agencies.
Before Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for not enforcing his Muslim travel ban, last month she warned the Trump White House that Flynn had misrepresented the calls and was therefore vulnerable to Russian blackmail. That warning was enough reason for Trump to boot Flynn, but he did not.
It took the increasing criticism of Flynn and the mounting calls for an investigation of recent days for the White House to request that Flynn find another perch for his anti-Islam crusade.
Flynn's departure should not end the demands for an investigation. One tantalizing and somewhat overlooked aspect of the Post story that did him in was the fact that Flynn hobnobbed with Kislyak during the campaign. The paper reported that the Flynn-Kislyak conversations "were part of a series of contacts between Flynn and Kislyak that began before the Nov. 8 election and continued during the transition, officials said." And the paper noted, "Kislyak said that he had been in contact with Flynn since before the election, but declined to answer questions about the subjects they discussed." "
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/why-michael-flynn-still-needs-to-be-investigated-russia
