We'll start with the fact that 4 of the 6 met with apparently the most forgettable ambassador on the planet, Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Let me be clear: Nothing is inherently wrong with any of them meeting with an ambassador, but it is highly suspicious that they all seem to have developed a curious case of amnesia (read: lied) about the meetings. Also worth noting that this particular ambassador presides over the building where many of the 35 Russian spies that were expelled by the Obama administration worked.
Michael Flynn:
Possibly the most interesting and deeply connected to Russia, Michael Flynn is seemingly a walking security risk. Many of the people that I've spoken to believe that Flynn is the "key that opens all of the doors" in the Trump / Russia scandal. General Flynn was the 18th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, appointed by President Obama in July of 2012 and fired, also by Obama, in August of 2014. According to the New York Times, even in his capacity as director of the DIA, Flynn had a "loose relationship with facts." Between the time that he left the DIA in 2014 and was appointed as Trump's first National Security Advisor in 2017, Flynn had a busy life outside of the United States, where even then, his actions often seemed at odds with his words. He spoke favorably about the Turkish coup attempt in July of 2016, and then after a complete 180 in September of the same year, began advocating for Erdogan and the Turkish government, calling for the United States to offer more support to its NATO ally. This lobbying work for Turkey earned him approximately 1.3 million dollars.
On to Russia.
Flynn visited the GRU headquarters in 2013, ostensibly in his capacity as DIA director, but it is not outside of the realm of possibility that he began working with the Russians around this time. It has been confirmed that Flynn received payments from 3 Russian connected entities, which he did not disclose on any of his government ethics forms:
1. RT - Vladimir Putin's propaganda arm
2. Volga-Dnepr Group - Russian Air Cargo Company
3. Kaspersky Government Solutions - Russian Cybersecurity Firm.
We also know that Flynn spoke with ambassador Kislyak several times, both on the phone and in person. When the story broke that Flynn had spoken with Kislyak several times on the day that the Obama administration levied new sanctions against Russia and expelled 35 Russian diplomats, Flynn initially claimed that nothing in the conversation was related to sanctions, or the diplomats. He said he was just setting up time for Trump to speak with Putin. This all seemed suspect, but people took him at his word and it went away for a couple of weeks. Then came the next story that broke: Michael Flynn did discuss sanctions with Kislyak and there were transcripts to prove it. For context, this happened after the inauguration, and after Mike Pence went on national television and put his credibility on the line to vouch for Flynn, who had fed him the same false story. Now that the story was out, Flynn developed the interesting case of amnesia that seems to come with talking to ambassador Kislyak and he couldn't remember exactly what they talked about, but sanctions might have come up. Then, wait, no. It wasn't sanctions, it was the diplomats. Yeah. That's it. The diplomats. Oh... you said there were transcripts? Yeah. Maybe sanctions came up. Can't remember. The most disturbing part of all of this (besides the fact that Flynn was also doing consulting work with the FBI around this period) is that the Trump and some of his top officials were warned about this weeks before Pence found out. From the Washington Post:
"Sally Yates, the acting attorney general at the time, and a senior career national security official at the Justice Department had informed McGahn at his office about their concerns on Jan. 26, according to a person familiar with the briefing. Spicer said the president and a small group of senior aides were briefed by McGahn about Flynn that same day."
Why is it that Trump and his top aides found out on January 26th, but Pence was left completely in the dark until the story broke in the national media on Feb. 9th? Exactly two weeks between the day that Trump found out that Pence's credibility was at stake and that his national security advisor was potentially a blackmail risk and the day that Pence found out that he had been lied to. Pence was furious by the way. Steaming mad. I don't blame him.
In March of 2017, James Woolsey, former CIA director said that Flynn attended a meeting with Turkish officials to help plan the abduction of Fethullah Gulen and to ship him to Turkey without following extradition procedures. This took place while he worked for the Trump campaign. Gulen was accused of helping plot the attempted Turkish coup and was a staunch opponent of Erdogan. I find the fact that a member of a presidential campaign team was participating in the planning to kidnap of a person on United States soil with the goal of delivering him to a foreign government staggering.
There's been a lot of discussion whether or not the leaks that lead to Flynn's ouster were illegal or immoral, but this is a red-herring. Don't get distracted by the, "look over there!" rhetoric - potential treason is always worth investigating, and if the powers that be won't do it without prompting, so be it. Realistically, what is the argument? Personally, "I'm really disturbed by how you discovered my treason," doesn't hold water to me.
For those looking for motive for Flynn, the Russians love financial entanglement. It is reported that Flynn has at least 750,000-1.5 Million in mortgage debt, and up to 50k in another line of credit.
We know that Flynn has asked the FBI and Congress for immunity in order to testify, we also know that they said, "no thanks," which leads me to believe that they have plenty on him to put him away for a long, long time, if they want to.
Carter Page:
You've probably all seen his interviews on the national news: he's the smug one that is terrible at hiding his guilt behind his fake-shocked and appalled demeanor.
I can't lay out his Russian ties any better than Adam Schiff did in his opening statement on the March 20th House Intelligence Committee hearing, so I'll quote that here:
"In early July, Carter Page, someone candidate Trump identified as one of his national security advisors, travels to Moscow on a trip approved by the Trump campaign. While in Moscow, he gives a speech critical of the United States and other western countries for what he believes is a hypocritical focus on democratization and efforts to fight corruption. According to Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer who is reportedly held in high regard by U.S. Intelligence, Russian sources tell him that Page has also had a secret meeting with Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian gas giant Rosneft. Sechin is reported to be a former KGB agent and close friend of Putin’s. According to Steele’s Russian sources, Page is offered brokerage fees by Sechin on a deal involving a 19 percent share of the company. According to Reuters, the sale of a 19.5 percent share in Rosneft later takes place, with unknown purchasers and unknown brokerage fees. Also, according to Steele’s Russian sources, the Trump campaign is offered documents damaging to Hillary Clinton, which the Russians would publish through an outlet that gives them deniability, like Wikileaks. The hacked documents would be in exchange for a Trump Administration policy that de-emphasizes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and instead focuses on criticizing NATO countries for not paying their fare share – policies which, even as recently as the President’s meeting last week with Angela Merkel, have now presciently come to pass."
Side note: Page was allegedly brought into the campaign by Manafort, who I discussed in my last Trump / Russia post.
Roger Stone:
Ah, Roger Stone. The guy that doesn't realize that once you post it online, it's generally there forever. The loud mouth braggart that has in all likelihood secured himself a cell next for the next several years. The one that declared for all to see that he communicated directly with Guccifer 2.0 and Julian Asange.
Again from Schiff's opening statement:
"On August 8th, Roger Stone, a longtime Trump political advisor and self-proclaimed political dirty trickster, boasts in a speech that he “has communicated with Assange,” and that more documents would be coming, including an “October surprise.” In the middle of August, he also communicates with the Russian cutout Guccifer 2.0, and authors a Breitbart piece denying Guccifer’s links to Russian intelligence. Then, later in August, Stone does something truly remarkable, when he predicts that John Podesta’s personal emails will soon be published. “Trust me, it will soon be Podesta’s time in the barrel. #Crooked Hillary.” In the weeks that follow, Stone shows a remarkable prescience: “I have total confidence that @wikileaks and my hero Julian Assange will educate the American people soon. #Lockherup. “Payload coming,” he predicts, and two days later, it does. Wikileaks releases its first batch of Podesta emails."
I don't know about you guys, but Stone doesn't strike me as clairvoyant. An egotistical jackass? Sure. Clairvoyant? Not a chance. This might be the biggest direct link to collusion between the campaign and the Russians / WikiLeaks that we've seen so far. Comey has denied to discuss Stone, or his tweets, several times, but I expect that we will be hearing much more about him in the coming months.
Jeff Sessions:
The curious case of amnesia returns with Jeff Sessions, who, in his Senate confirmation hearing, claimed that he had never met or talked to any Russians. Then it turns out that Sessions has twice met ambassador Kislyak, (yes, the same one that Flynn got fired over) once at the Republican National Convention and once privately in his Senate office. The RNC meeting I can agree with Sessions and we can overlook, even though it could be considered a controversial meeting seeing as the entire Republican platform as related to Ukraine changed around the time of said convention But, there were a lot of people there and I'm willing to give Sessions the benefit of the doubt. The private meeting in his office? Not so much. When it came out that Sessions indeed met with Kislyak in his office, the amnesia was out in full-force. He couldn't remember what they talked about. Golly gee, I'm sure it wasn't anything important. Then he decided to have a press conference to announce that he was recusing himself from any investigations related to Trump, Russia or the campaign, and man, did his memory come back in spades. He remembered conversations, almost verbatim, seemingly every topic they discussed, Kislyak's reactions, everything. It's a miracle. <Insert Eye Roll emoji here>
I thought I was going to get it all in Part 2, but there's quite a bit to discuss with Kushner. Part 3 coming soon. Thank you for reading, and thank you for the continued feedback on Twitter. Please keep the questions coming!
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