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[martinuzz]

Well, I guess there's only one way to find out that would befit the Trump era. Waterboard him till he confesses. /s

[misko27]

Whaaat? He is a person?

Narcissists are people too. Just not people we should treat with the respect and human dignity they are incapable of showing themselves.

Is Flynn actually a Russian spy?

No. A Politico piece has this:

There is little doubt that Trump elevated Flynn because of his loyalty and the optics of having a recently retired three-star general parroting his views, which few other generals of that rank would consider doing. But Flynn was no grand strategist. He would not have been capable of running a complex political realignment with Russia, and he was woefully ill-cast for the role of national security adviser. An army intelligence officer who had spent most of his career in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Flynn had no background in diplomacy, not to mention Asian or European affairs. And it strains credulity that someone with such limited experience was acting on his own initiative when he spoke with Kislyak on December 29, the day of the sanctions announcement. If, as reported, he called five times in a single day, then he was on a mission, and probably not of his own devising.

Aside from his inexperience, there is another reason to doubt that Flynn was carrying on an unauthorized dialogue with the Russians: Unlike Trump, he has no longtime, demonstrated affection for Putin. While he was at DIA from 2013 to 2014, he had tried to build a better relationship with Russian intelligence, but that by itself tells us little. Out of uniform, he accepted a paid speaking gig in Moscow and wound up at an RT dinner seated next to Putin in December 2015, raising more than a few eyebrows. (How far along he was in his courtship with candidate Trump at that point is unclear.)

But Flynn was still talking tough on Russia until late 2015. In The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and its Allies, which he co-wrote with controversial foreign policy analyst (and, I would argue, conspiracy theorist) Michael Ledeen and which came out in mid-2016, Flynn counted Russia as one of those allies. Indeed, on the second page of the book’s introduction, he included Russia with North Korea, China, Cuba and Venezuela as the “countries … who though not religious fanatics, share their hatred of the West, particularly the United States and Israel.” He later added to the list: Iran, Syria, Bolivia and Nicaragua. (This litany of purported jihadist allies is just another sign of Flynn’s seriously misguided views.)

And as the article goes on to say: Someone else knew something. If he didn't do it on his own, someone else told him to do it. This goes up. Who? I don't know. Someone in the Administration. If that's true, it begs the question: What about Trump? What does he know, and when did he know it?

[Max™]

The biggest problem I have there is the idea that Trump could know something which would probably be stupid of him to blurt out, and somehow he would avoid blurting it out.

[misko27]

The biggest problem I have there is the idea that Trump could know something which would probably be stupid of him to blurt out, and somehow he would avoid blurting it out.

Manages to avoid blurting out his tax returns, so he's got some self-control.

Really all Trump needs to do to stay quiet is have an alternative version of what happened. If Trump has health problems, for example, we wouldn't know because he's in "THE BEST FITNESS, THE BEST". He's gotta have something to stick to, ideally something straightforward. Russia is harder because it's all "I'm not colluding with Russia, but you know Russia really isn't so bad," but it's still relatively simple to handle.

[Max™]

Given the oral diarrhea he usually has, I expect he probably just doesn't know what's in his tax returns well enough (or at all) to end up talking about it, or it's actually something that would directly hurt his ego.

If Putin has been using him as a personal footstool there's no way we'd hear about it, if he's been getting "the best deals, the biggest deals" with Russia I honestly doubt he could keep quiet about it.

I look forward to being wrong and him actually being an evil genius, but do not expect it to happen.

[smjjames]

The biggest problem I have there is the idea that Trump could know something which would probably be stupid of him to blurt out, and somehow he would avoid blurting it out.

He hasn't accidentially blurted out classified stuff yet.

I thought he may have accidentially confirmed the leaks as being 100% factually true, at least that's what it sounded like.

Dirt is already coming out on Alexander Acosta (isn't vetting supposed to find stuff like this?). It's not confirmation killing, and he's been confirmed for other positions before, but the deal (he was the prosecutor on it and lawyers make deals all the time) is a bit on the controversial side. The REAL interesting bit though is the billionaire, apparently he has ties to Trump in that he is a member of one of Trumps clubs, though there is no formal relationship.

Trump likely has a LOT of billionaire friends and knows many, and many are in his clubs, so, the only relationship might be that he's heard of Alexander Acosta because he was the prosecutor on the case. Plus he was the top federal prosecutor in Southern Florida, so, chances are good that Trump knew of him through articles in the paper rather than any association.

It's mostly just a real interesting thing, not neccesarily an indicator of anything bad.

Given the oral diarrhea he usually has, I expect he probably just doesn't know what's in his tax returns well enough (or at all) to end up talking about it, or it's actually something that would directly hurt his ego.

If Putin has been using him as a personal footstool there's no way we'd hear about it, if he's been getting "the best deals, the biggest deals" with Russia I honestly doubt he could keep quiet about it.

I look forward to being wrong and him actually being an evil genius, but do not expect it to happen.

Russia really doesn't seem to be in control of anything here. More like they took a risky gamble and it's now backfiring on them.

Also, apparently he said that 'the greatest thing I can do about the spy ship is to shoot it outta the water'. While that was most certainly sarcasm on his part since the ship is safe as long as it stays in international waters, it's.... not a particularily smart thing to say I don't think, that you'd shoot it out of the water.

Link with quote on it.

[Sergarr]

Flynn lied to FBI in an interview. That's a felony, he can be prosecuted for that. The question is, will DoJ do it? They could be already controlled by traitors.

[Max™]

To illustrate what I was saying about Trump just kinda barfing out whatever pops in his head: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/trump-just-gave-a-weapons-grade-crazy-press-conference-here-are-the-6-most-insane-moments/

Least anti-semitic dude who just assumes all black people know each other and would not want to see a nuclear holocaust cause it would be the worst with Russia cause it's a strong nuclear power like us and the leaks are real but the news about them is fake and he won the biggest electoral win because that's what he was told and wikileaks is cool because it never leaks classified info except when it does and what the shit?

[PTTG??]

Flynn lied to FBI in an interview. That's a felony, he can be prosecuted for that. The question is, will DoJ do it? They could be already controlled by traitors.

And if they did, would Trump release him?

[Baffler]

Flynn lied to FBI in an interview. That's a felony, he can be prosecuted for that. The question is, will DoJ do it? They could be already controlled by traitors.

And if they did, would Trump release him?

He'd hardly be the first president to do so. I give it a 33% chance.

[smjjames]

Flynn lied to FBI in an interview. That's a felony, he can be prosecuted for that. The question is, will DoJ do it? They could be already controlled by traitors.

He changed his story back and the FBI changed their mind. The article doesn't say what he changed his story to, but the question still remains unanswered with certianity, "did he or did he not talk about sanctions with the Russian ambassador?"

[Starver]

To illustrate what I was saying about Trump just kinda barfing out whatever pops in his head: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/trump-just-gave-a-weapons-grade-crazy-press-conference-here-are-the-6-most-insane-

A personal snapshot by a BBC reporter...

(Haven't seen any AV of it yet, waiting 'til I'm on a link of sufficient bandwidth...)

[palsch]

Flynn lied to FBI in an interview. That's a felony, he can be prosecuted for that. The question is, will DoJ do it? They could be already controlled by traitors.

Depends what the definition of is is.

He said he didn't discuss sanctions but did discuss the expulsion of Russian officials, which was part of the sanctions. It would be a legal battle over whether those expulsion count as sanctions or not. Unless he actually went further in the call transcripts. Then it is a lot clearer.

All of which also hinges on whether Sessions recuses himself. If he fails to, in this or other cases he is personally or politically tied to, he may be able to block or reduce prosecution, but would then face ethics charges himself.

Remember we are relying on leaks here, and the original story changed a few times before settling on the current narrative. We may be seeing dueling leaks each trying to set a narrative for the press. Patience and good, cautious sources are important here.

[smjjames]

Which is why we (or Congress at least) need to know exactly what was said. If he said 'don't freak out over the sanctions', that'd probablt be fine, but if he said that and promised something regarding sanctions, then that might be a problem.

edit: That link doesn't work palsch, just gives a 'page not found' page.

[Strife26]

That's why you *never* talk to the FBI, folks. It's easy as hell to commit a felony without intending to, even if you weren't into shady shit like Flynn likely is.