The fact is that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller says that former Trump aide Michael Flynn’s “early cooperation was particularly valuable.” Could it be that Flynn is actually redeemable?
Not likely as Flynn is among the worst of the worst.
During the transition between the Obama and incoming Trump administration in 2016, Donald Trump’s appointment of Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor was jarring. It was a blatant “fuck you” to Obama who had fired Flynn years before. We can say this with confidence because in a report by POLITICO, during a 90-minute meeting with Obama:
“Obama forcefully told Trump to steer clear of Flynn. This seemed to momentarily give Trump pause, the (a) former Obama administration official said.”
It’s very likely that what probably caused Trump to pause was the thought that if Obama, a person he loathes and resents so much was so bothered by him bringing Michael Flynn back then it gave him more of a reason to do so.
We would learn only a few months into the Trump administration that the Justice Department (DOJ) under then acting Attorney General Sally Yates had raised concerns that Flynn could be compromised. Of course, Trump’s machismo made sure that the White House didn’t take those concerns seriously. Luckily, thanks to public pressure put on the administration so early, Flynn was forced to turn in his resignation which Trump would take credit for by saying that he had fired Flynn.
Investigations were being opened as a result of Flynn’s lies by the Pentagon, the FBI and the Senate Intelligence Committee before Robert Mueller started his investigation. Everyone but Trump, who Flynn had initially lied to.
The grifter in the White House would only make things worse for himself when he fires FBI Director James Comey, triggering a series of events that would eventually cause Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to name the Special Counsel.
And now almost two years later, we learn that Sally Yates’ concerns over Michael Flynn were true. He can indeed be compromised by anyone who puts pressure on him, even if it’s light pressure by Mueller.
This further reveals how impulsive and hamfisted Donald Trump is in his decision-making in selecting the ‘best’ people because, on December 4, Mueller’s sentencing memo for Michael Flynn revealed that he had been cooperating fully with the Special Counsel’s investigation.
The reason to think that Mueller didn’t have to put the ‘vise’ on him is because the memo suggests that Flynn has been entirely cooperative from the very beginning. This comes a week after it had been revealed that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort refused to cooperate.
It’s been suggested with plenty of evidence that Trump thinks better of loyalists who keep quiet. That’s why former advisers like Corsi, Manafort, Papadopoulos and now Stone — and others, are defying Mueller, hoping that Trump will use his pardoning powers as President to lift their indictments.
Here’s a thorough analysis on that pardon via MSNBC by law-wonk Ari Melber.
That clip points to the reasons why those pundits believe Manafort’s efforts might have already backfired on him. By extension, it might have already backfired on Trump as well. The reason for that is because Trump has largely been seen as playing checkers against Mueller who as a prosecutor, has to play chess while Manafort plays poker.
The contrast between that lot and those cooperating with Mueller such as Flynn and longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen is that they shouldn’t expect any leniency from Trump.
But the most important thing to point out here is that over the years since Trump has been politically active, we’ve seen that he’s far more ignorant than we’ve given him credit for.
On Tuesday, November 27, Donald Trump gave an interview to The Washington Post where he said:
“They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”
He was talking about how unhappy he was with his choice of Jerome Powell to lead the Federal Reserve.
If we’re to take his statement seriously, we can say with certainty that his gut is obviously to blame for “telling” Trump to put Jerome Powell in to lead the Fed. As an aside, we also know from his statement that he doesn’t rely on anybody else’s brain to tell him anything, much less his own.
When asked during his campaign about people in his campaign or for his administration, he said that he “Had the best people.”Seeing that Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen were two of them, he’s certainly got the best people to turn him in.
So now, we have a better guideline as to how horribly and devastatingly impulsive he is as a decision-maker and how it’s all backfiring on him.
Check out this parody piece about Trump’s “best” people by The New York Times.
[Featured image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0]
Originally published at zoedune.com.
