And take on whatever comes next. Find out how American Express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open. Com. So the wheels are coming off a little bit. If the wheels are not yet off you are starting to hear the start of lug nuts stripping their threads and pinging across lanes of traffic while the wheels start to wobble. Theres a bit of a Freakout In Washington and were seeing it on two big stories developing tonight. Why is it always friday night . One of these two stories tonight, developing tonight that shows this freakout, one of them is about the administration itself, the other one breaking tonight appears to be about the prospect of investigation into the administration. Press, we the citizens of the United States know about the content of communications with the russian government . Michael flynn was reportedly exposed as having lied about the content of his calls to the russian government because u. S. Law enforcement or u. S. Intelligence agencies were listening in on at least one call that was recorded and then transcribed. We have seen quotes and various newspapers from multiple officials who say they have seen the transcripts, the transcripts from Michael Flynn talking to a russian Government Official. Even though the transcripts have never been leaked or published, we have been told whats in them. We have been told, its been reported, that the transcripts show that mike flynn discussed u. S. Sanctions on russia. Everybody though he lied and said he didnt. We still dont know and this is going to end up being important we still dont know why Michael Flynns calls with a russian official were reported and transcribed by u. S. Officials. If it was Routine Surveillance of Foreign Government officials in the United States, they always listen in on the russians. Okay, that makes sense why a russian Government Official would have been recorded and had his communication transcribed but that kind of Routine Surveillance should not have included anything involving an american person. It was an official under Routine Surveillance, any american getting on the line, that should not be included in that surveillance because americans cannot be surveilled just because they happen to speak with foreign officials. If it was done under a fisa warrant, we would expect any person captured in the communication would be what they call minimized, would be excised out of the communication, wouldnt be recorded or transcribed, we would havent access to what that u. S. Person said. A communication involving a u. S. Person is a different thing legally speaking than a communication involving just
foreigners. Why do we have access to what flynn and a russian official were talking about . If there was a warrant out on Michael Flynn himself and thats why the call was being recorded, well, that would explain why weve got a recording and a transcript of what mike flynn said when he was talking to a russian official, but theres been nothing to indicate that mike flynn was the subject of a criminal warrant or the subject of a National Security warrant, a fisa warrant which in that case youd only be able to get because you suspected him of something very serious like espionage. We havent seen anything that would indicate that there were warrants taken out to surveil mike flynn specifically. So thats one of the big things thats still to be determined here. One of the things we need to understand if we are going to know what has happened to our government and Whats Going On with this new presidency and particularly the russian connection. We still dont know the circumstances of how u. S. Law enforcement or intelligence
agencies came to be monitoring and recording and transcribing calls between russian officials and mike flynn during the transition. If you are waiting for shoes to drop in this particular news environment, that ones like a Big Freaking Logging Boot that will fall off a tenstory window sill at some point. Wear a hard hat. We are still waiting for an explanation of that and we dont have one. The other part of Michael Flynns firing that never made sense, though was its timing. Mike flynn reportedly had multiple conversations with russian Government Officials during the president ial campaign which, of course, is when russia was interfering in our president ial election to hurt Hillary Clinton and help donald trump, his multiple communications with russian officials, those also remain unexplained. What was he talking to the russian government about while the russian government was attacking our election . I would love to know. That said, further nonexplained data here, Michael Flynnapparently continued his communications with russian officials beyond the campaign past election day and into the transition. His conversations with the Russian Ambassador that led to his firing happened during the transition. They happened in late december around christmas and new years. Two weeks after that on january 15 the Vice President , mike pence went on tv and assured the American Public that Michael Flynn definitely didnt talk to the russians about sanctions during the transition. Let me ask you about it. It was reported by David Ignatius that the incoming National Security adviser Michael Flynn was in touch with the Russian Ambassador on the day the United States government announced sanctions for russian interference with the election. Did that contact help with that russian kind of moderate response to it . That there was no counter reaction from russia . Did the Flynn Conversation Help pave the way for that sort of
more temperate russian response . I talked to general flynn about that conversation. They didnt discuss anything having to do with the United States decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against russia. What i can say is that those conversations that happened to occur around the time the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. But that still leaves open the possibility that there might have been other conversations about the sanctions. I dont believe there were more Conversations Ant okay, lets move on. I can confirm that those elements were not part of that discussion. What mike pence said there was not true. We now know that Michael Flynn did discuss sanctions with the russian government even though mike pence said he didnt. So there are two possible ways to explain that. One is that, you know, Vice President mike pence was knowingly lying. He was straight up lying. He knew what flynn had actually done but he lied about it on tv. Thats one possibility. Thats a very dark possibility. The other possibility is that mike pence thought he was telling the truth. He thought he was telling the truth but because Michael Flynn fed him a b. S. Story, mike pence innocently relayed that b. S. Story to the American People as if it was true even though he wasnt in on the real facts of the matter. That latter story is what the white house decided to go with Vice President mike pence would never knowingly lie to the American People, he passed on what mike flynn told him. Thats the story from the white house. Mike pence made those comments on tv january 15. 11 days later, january 26, the then acting Attorney General of the United States sally yates, we now know, she went to the white house with apparently the
information gleaned from those transcripts, those recordings of Michael Flynns calls talking to the russians. She brought that information to the white house and said basically hey, what youve been saying about how mike flynn was communicating with the russians and what he was and wasnt talking to the russians about, what youve been saying is not true. Mike flynn did talk to the russian government about the sanctions. And we know because we heard it and then we wrote it down. What does not make sense here, what has never made sense here is what happened after that visit from the Department Of Justice. Avenue that visit from the acting Attorney General because what happened next after she told them mike flynn was, in fact, talking about sanctions when he talked to the russians. What happened next after she told him that was nothing. From january 26 all the way through the end of january all the way through the end of the first week through february, to february 13 the white house did nothing in response. Their line for why they had to fire Michael Flynn on february 13 is that they were so outraged that Michael Flynn lied to mike pence. Look at mike pence. How dare you lie to him . How could you lie to somebody like that . They were so outraged they had to fire Michael Flynn but they found out about Michael Flynn supposedly lying to mike pence almost three weeks before. And it apparently took three weeks to start bothering them so much. It didnt bother them until it hit the news and then everybody found out that mike pence had talked about sanctions with the Russian Ambassador and had been lying about it, thats when they finally fired mike flynn. Its never made sense in the white house account of what happened to Michael Flynn and how he was fired and why he was fired. It has never made sense that the reason he had to go was that he lied to mike pence and nobody
lies to mike pence and gets away with it. The white house sat on the news of that lie for three weeks, did nothing about it before they finally got dragged into firing him because of public exposure. The only thing that makes sense is that his lies got finally publicly exposed. So why did it happen that way . What what theyre saying makes no sense. Why did it happen for real . Why did they stick with mike flynn for so long even when the Department Of Justice came to them and said hes lying and unless mike pence is in on the lie, hes apparently lying to mike pence, hes lying to the Vice President and in terms of what hes lying about, remember, the Department Of Justice told the white house they thought Michael Flynn as National Security adviser might be vulnerable to russian blackmail. Still they held on to him for another three weeks. They held on through a lot of
embarrassing stuff. There was a profoundly negative bipartisan reaction to him being appointed a top National Security adviser to the campaign and them even more so to him being appointed actual National Security adviser to the president. For somebody with such a distinguished military career, Everything Else about what mike flynn i dont mean it in the a mean way it was embarrassing. His online statements, the tweets he deleted, the ones he didnt, his son who he employed at his Consulting Business who was embarrassing enough and extreme enough that he has the rare distinction of being one of the only people ever fired from the trump apparatus for being too embarrassing even for these folks. Michael flynn never had an explanation for why he took Tens Of Thousands of dollars from the russian government through russian stateowned television. He never had an explanation for what he was doing not only taking their money but sitting next to Vladimir Putin at that
gala dinner for russia today and standing up and applauding putin at the end of putins speech, giving him a Standing Ovation. Leading the Standing Ovation for putin. Then there was Michael Flynn being on the payroll for a Foreign Government while he was on the campaign during the transition. And that point, him being on another governments payroll, lobbying for another government while he was in the white house, right . While he was Just Transition official, while he was running that point is what has really sent the Lug Nuts Skittering off the wheels in washington tonight. On election day, while Michael Flynn was serving as the top National Security advisor to the republican candidate for president , Michael Flynn published this overthetop oped in the hill newspaper. The oped praised the authoritarian leader of turkey. It also called for the heads of his dissidents and opponents. It was weird at the time. The timing itself was weird because it was on election day but the content was weird and within days, the daily caller and politico confirmed this weird oped makes sense, He Wasnt Just Writing that out of the goodness of his heart, actually Michael Flynns Consulting Group is being paid to represent the interest of the government of Turkey Retired general Michael Flynn in the running for a top National Security post in the new administration runs a Consulting Firm that is lobbying for turkish interests. This wasnt like a rumor or like a secret. The daily caller reported it, politico reported it, cnn reported it, the a. P. Reported it, bloomberg reported it. On the 11th Of November some dumb cable show did a Big Long Story at the top of the hour at 9 00 eastern on msnbc. It was widely publicly known and discussed that Michael Flynn and his Consulting Company were taking money to represent the Turkish Government. They were lobbying for the Turkish Governments interests. While he was the top of the National Security apparatus in the trump transition, while he was advising trump on National Security matters, he was taking that money, hed been on the turkish payroll during the president ial campaign. Well, now this week finally mike flynn has finally retroactively registered with the Justice Department as a Foreign Agent. He has admitted that he took hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby for the government of turkey last year between august and november. But again this filing is retroactive. Hes not filing now to say hes about to start taking noun lobby for the Turkish Government. Hes filing now to report that he was lobbying for the Turkish Government last year while he was also working for trump. Now, the white house said today that President Trump had no idea, no idea that Michael Flynn was an agent of a Foreign Government while he was advising
the Trump Campaign and leading the National Security part of the trump ran the sigts and honestly while he was sitting in on the president ial daily brief and all of the other things he did as part of the trump effort. Maybe amazingly thats true that President Trump had no idea Michael Flynn was a Foreign Agent while he was doing that because maybe the president consumes no news and information that is publicly available to the rest of us, maybe he