I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

Evan McMullin, Republican and former CIA agent, observes the following patterns in the relationship between Trump and Russia:  Extensive connections between Team Trump and a whole lot of Russians; attempts to conceal those connections; attempts to obstruct investigations into those connections, including dismissing people (Comey, Yates, Bharara) who were conducting those investigations; and despite all the negative publicity, continuing to cultivate relationships with Russia.

Earlier this week, former CIA Director John Brennan shot down the Republican argument that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia by saying that there were indeed “contacts and interactions” between the two.  He also shot down the argument that those contacts were trivial when he added that “frequently, individuals who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they’re along that path until it gets to be a bit too late.”  “Treasonous” is a pretty strong word; it’s much more serious than a charge of perjury, failing to register as a foreign agent, money laundering, or even obstruction of justice.  It sounded like a warning shot for someone.   

Trump’s claim that he only hires the best people is ridiculous, but there’s one thing that most of his staff are really good at:  leaking.  Lately, they’ve redoubled their efforts.  Last week we learned that Trump asked not only to FBI Director James Comey, but also the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the National Security Agency for help in shutting down the investigation of Mike Flynn.  All three men declined the opportunity to become accomplices in the obstruction of justice.  The New York Times and the Washington Post smell blood in the water, and nearly every day brings new revelations – many of which confirm the “preposterous” conspiracy theories of citizen journalists.

On that front, here are a couple of new developments.  Time will tell how preposterous they are.

First, NBC and the Washington Post have legitimized a charge that was a crazy conspiracy theory two weeks ago – that the FBI is investigating Jared Kushner, whom they believe has “significant information” relevant to the collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.  The Post offered details of Kushner’s meetings with Russians in New York last December – meetings that Kushner failed to mention when he submitted his security clearance.  That, in itself, is a felony.  It’s a remarkable coincidence that Kushner, Mike Flynn, and Jeff Sessions all developed amnesia about their fairly extensive contacts with Russia, and failed to mention them to the proper authorities. 

NBC and the Post were both careful not to say that Kushner was a “target” (a suspect, in other words), but each day’s news seems to make things worse for Trump’s son-in-law.   Score one for the citizen journalists who reported this back in March.

The story took an odd turn on Friday when the Post and the New York Times published different accounts of Kushner’s clandestine meetings with members of Russian intelligence in December.  The Times story says that Kushner was trying to talk to Russia about strategy in Syria.  It doesn’t explain why those conversations couldn’t have waited a few weeks until Trump was sworn in, or why Kushner asked to use Russia’s secure diplomatic communication channel.  Whatever he wanted to talk about, Kushner was definitely anxious to hide it from American intelligence agencies. 

The Post’s account makes more sense.  Kushner, they say, needed money, and lots of it, by January.  Loan fees on one of his properties (the aptly named 666 Fifth Avenue – really, you couldn’t make these things up) were due to rise sharply in 2017.   And sure enough, the Russian ambassador introduced him to the CEO of a major Russian bank.  Was Kushner trying to barter an end to Obama’s sanctions on Russia in exchange for a friendly loan?  Or did Trump’s son in law suddenly develop an inexplicable interest in Syria that vanished almost immediately?  Perhaps we’ll find out.  There was, after all, one American eyewitness to the initial meeting – good ol’ Mike Flynn.  More on him below. 

What is not in dispute is that Kushner violated the Logan Act as a civilian negotiating with a foreign government (Russia); that he committed a felony when he failed to reveal these meetings on his SF86 security clearance application; and that he and others speaking for him attempted to cover up the fact that the meetings and phone contacts took place.  What’s the innocent explanation for any of this?

Moving on, multiple sources in the mainstream media have confirmed that Donald Trump texted “Stay strong” to his disgraced pal, former Lieutenant General, former National Security Advisor, and former Russian spy Mike Flynn.  But “stay strong” can be interpreted either as encouragement (“I’ve got your back,” and maybe even “I’ll pardon you if necessary”) or as a threat (“Keep your mouth shut, or you’ll sleep with the fishes”).  It appears that Flynn was sufficiently concerned about the latter possibility to decide that discretion was the better part of valor. 

Although Flynn is, for the moment, pleading the Fifth to Congress, word on the street is that he’s singing like a canary to the FBI.  Congress can threaten him with contempt (and he is indeed contemptible), but that’s small potatoes.  Federal prosecutors are said to be considering more serious charges, up to and including espionage.  Flynn is suspected of coordinating with Russia to influence the American election, and also working with far right parties in the UK, France, and Austria to assist Putin’s allies in those countries.  Perhaps Brennan was talking about Flynn when he mentioned the slippery slope to treason.

Flynn is a fairly big fish, and it looks like the FBI has him dead to rights.  The only reason prosecutors would consider offering him a deal is if he could help them build a case against someone higher up.  Who might that be?  There are plenty of scuzzy people in the Trump administration, but not many who would constitute a bigger catch than the former National Security Advisor.  I’d say there are only three men who might qualify:  Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Vice President Mike Pence, and of course, Donald Trump himself.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and Flynn can implicate all three of them – with Kushner as the cherry on top.

But even if Flynn keeps the code of omerta and opts to spend the rest of his life in prison, it’s beginning to look as though Trump is still in trouble.  Another mainstream news outlet, The Observer (link below), reports that Admiral Mike Rogers, Director of the National Security Agency, confirmed to his staff that Trump did indeed seek his help in stopping the FBI investigation into Mike Flynn – in other words, in obstructing justice. 

The Observer quotes Rogers as saying:  “There is no question that we [NSA] have evidence of election involvement and questionable contacts with the Russians.”  The article goes on to say that Rogers “was obviously referring to a series of SIGINT reports [Signals Intelligence] from 2016 based on intercepts of communications between known Russian intelligence officials and key members of Trump’s campaign, in which they discussed methods of damaging Hillary Clinton.”

Republican #NeverTrumper Rick Wilson puts it more succinctly.  “Trump has a pair of twos.  The intelligence agencies are holding a royal flush.” 

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating.  Trump and his team are evil, but they’re stupid.  We need to drive a stake through the heart of Trumpist treason before someone smarter plays the game better.  

http://observer.com/2017/05/mike-rogers-nsa-chief-admits-trump-colluded-with-russia/