I expect the same backlash and reversal to this news as there was when Cohen was scheduled to be released early.
The stupidest thing about the "unmasking" conspiracy, is given the identity was masked, how could Biden and Obama etc know it was Flynn when they requested the unmasking? I cannot believe the media is covering this Oh wait - i can believe it
Yep. Retired Judge John Gleeson, appointed by Judge Sullivan to present, “present arguments in opposition to the DOJs" has already publicly stated his skepticism on Barr's position. At this point, El Douche may have to pardon Flynn himself. Good for Sullivan.
More news on this story.... Ex-F.B.I. Official Is Said to Undercut Justice Dept. Effort to Drop Flynn Case Prosecutors questioned a former F.B.I. official whose notes were used to buttress their motion to dismiss the charge against the president’s first national security adviser. WASHINGTON — A key former F.B.I. official cast doubt on the Justice Department’s case for dropping a criminal charge against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn during an interview with investigators last week, according to people familiar with the investigation. said investigators were trying to “lay a perjury trap.” That interpretation was wrong, Mr. Priestap told the prosecutors reviewing the case. He said that F.B.I. officials were trying to do the right thing in questioning Mr. Flynn and that he knew of no effort to set him up. Media reports about his notes misconstrued them, he said, according to the people familiar with the investigation. "The department’s decision to exclude mention of Mr. Priestap’s interview in the motion could trouble Judge Sullivan, who signaled late on Tuesday that he was skeptical of the department’s arguments.
It's not even really a perjury trap. A perjury trap, to pull an example out of thin air, is if someone is being questioned about his involvement with one woman, and the opposing counsel in deposition takes that as an excuse to ask about his involvement with another woman. It's not germane to the case, obviously, but a married man is going to be loathe to admit to infidelity. Not that such a thing could ever happen to a leading public figure.
Remember that time Mueller was appointed by AG Sessions DoJ when the GOP controlled all 3 branches of government? Apparently that was an obama conspiracy
It looks like Grennell in his bumbling way might have opened a window to a new Trumpian scandal The cluster of unmasking requests he disclosed don't relate to the Kislyak So what was Treason Weasel up to? THREE DAYS IN DECEMBER 2016: SANCTIONS, NUKES, SYRIA, AND RUSSIA In this post, I described how badly much of the press had misrepresented the unmasking report released by Ric Grenell yesterday. The transcripts of the calls Mike Flynn had with Sergey Kislyak were identified by the FBI, FBI never put them into a finalized intelligence product, and Jim Comey told James Clapper about them. The unmaskings described on the list released yesterday, by contrast, were finalized NSA products, not unfinished FBI ones, and none of the dates correlate with the discovery of Flynn’s calls. In other words, the masking report released yesterday does not include the calls in question. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Indeed, there is no evidence in the public record that any of these calls reflected any suspicion of wrong-doing. That said, there were a flurry of requests to unmask Flynn’s name around mid-December 2016 that experts have highlighted both publicly and privately. While we can’t speak to the content of the intercepts in question, it is certain that Flynn was involved or mentioned in some communications in the days before December 14, 2016 that attracted an interesting set of people around the US government. https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/14/three-days-in-december-sanctions-nukes-syria-and-russia/
even the reporters that are trying to be on the right side of history are ********ing this up. You don’t request to unmask a specific person. You ask for the name of their person identified in the intelligence you’re reading (identified in your copy a “US person.” ) the fact that Flynn was doing so much shit that he appeared in so many intelligence reports that so many people in government felt they needed to know, as it was relevant to their jobs, who the “US person” was In the report....and that that “US person” doing that shit ended ended up being Flynn.....is the ********ing story.
Yes absolutely. This is why Grenell may have screwed up big time apart from the silliness of the conspiracy He has opened the door for many of these people to reveal why they requested demasking. I really hope someone leaks the underlying intelligence product.
When you think about it, the scariest thing about Trump is that he opens the possibility of, one day, a competent fascist becoming president. I made this point a few days back. Just sayin'.
Marcy Wheeler makes the case that Judge Sullivan should require to review the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts. The DOJ has clearly made pleadings not supported by the underlying evidence but have also placed the whole locus of the FBI investigation at issue. Why were the FBI so concerned? It seems crazy that the corrupted DOJ can make these obamagate arguments without us knowing what Flynn actually said on those calls. The Trump Administration Disproves the Trump Administration's Claims that Mike Flynn's Communications with Sergey Kislyak Were Routinehttps://t.co/J5aZq6ELJg— emptywheel (@emptywheel) May 19, 2020
Think flags went up because there was too much chatter between Flynn and Kislyak. This around the time of the Obama sanctions.
It was actually earlier, back in December. But not just the amount of chatter - they know specifically what was being said, and that is why numerous officials requested unmasking. I mean the FBI launched a counter intel investigation because they believed Flynn might be an actual corrupted RIS agent!
So this is pretty fascinating 1. It reveals Flynn did exactly what we always believed - shocking stuff really. No wonder many officials across government were alarmed. 2. I think Wheeler is correct that it was Flynn's guilty knowledge which caused him to lie as he needed to conceal that he was working directly with Trump @ Mar-A-Lago on this. The obvious play here was to say he was acting on the new policy of the President elect. Shocking stuff, but at least defensible. But Trump and Flynn needed to conceal the quid pro quo Amazingly he did not appear to realise the FBI had the call content
With all the news today this story may be slipping under the radar but it is a pretty big deal. Flynn is totally guilty. No surprise they released on this friday..... READ THE TRANSCRIPT!— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) May 29, 2020