DEAR MEDIA: Mike Flynn's Resignation Does NOT Mean Trump's Russia Scandal Is Over
co-presidents of America
Ever since last year, there has been this pattern in the media. Last summer, we started learning about the weird ties between then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, Russia and pro-Kremlin forces in the Ukraine. It was all a bit abstract then, but once the media started shining a light, BYE BYE Paul Manafort -- if he ever really went away -- and hello Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon.
Then, October brought explosive reports, based on good spywork and investigative journalism, that there was serious evidence Donald Trump was compromised by Russia, that the nation may have been cultivating him as an asset for years, and oh yeah, there's this weird server in Trump Tower that only communicates with Alfa Bank in Russia. Huh! The media was vaguely interested for a minute, and then went back to reading John Podesta's sexxxy risotto emails.
After Trump's unlikely "election," senators and congresscritters, mostly Democrats and a few Republicans like John McCain and Lindsey Graham, started jumping up and down going "We have seen these classified reports, we want full briefings from President Obama, and investigations, and also a pony!" But yet again the story sort of faded from view after that, until January, when the dossier compiled by that old British spy Christopher Steele came out, and it contained raw intelligence showing all kinds of alleged collusion between the Russians and the Trump team for the purpose of winning the election, and also PEE HOOKERS! Everybody was so excited about pee hookers!
And then, unbelievably, the story receded from view again. Five days ago, David Corn, a phenomenal reporter who's been on this beat for months now, published a piece at Mother Jones asking exactly where in the hell the biggest scandal of the entire election has gone. Don't worry, David, it's back, for a second!
Because now we have the revelations that (former, hahahaha) National Security Advisor Michael Flynn lied to Mike Pence and Reince Priebus (unless Pence and Priebus are lying about what they knew) about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador, on behalf of Donald Trump, when Obama announced sanctions against Russia for hacking our election, saying he did not discuss getting rid of those sanctions once Trump was inaugurated, when in fact, yep he sure did! And American signals intelligence (SIGINT) picked it up, and you effing know Russian intelligence knows it. And now Flynn has resigned to spend more time investigating #Pizzagate with his fambly.
So, in short, BIG NEWS ABOUT THE RUSSIA THING! We bet we are in for a solid few days about how deep Flynn's ties with Russia go, was he a part of a scandal to rig the election for Trump, maybe because he was so mad at Obama for firing him in 2014, and so on and so forth. And then, if the media's pattern holds, it will see a squirrel by Friday and the story will yet again recede.
Or maybe this time it could not do that? Because holy shit, there is so much of this story that's yet to be unpacked, and it could take the better part of a year or more to really get the full truth, so that President Pussgrab may resign in disgrace.
Things we still don't know about this story:
Everything we don't yet know about how deep Flynn's ties to the Russians go, exactly what he did for Trump, and why. Investigation of Mike Flynn should not be over, just because he, in theory, is gone! Here are some reasons why, as compiled by the lovely David Corn.
Full details on the things that have been verified and haven't been verified in the Steele dossier, up to and including whatever kind of pee hooker kompromat the Kremlin might have on the American president, and including names and alleged activities of Trump associates like Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort and Carter Page.
The full extent of the Russian hacking operation into the 2016 election, and what results it achieved.
That weird computer in Trump Tower that only communicates with that huge bank in Moscow. WHAT DO IT DO EXACTLY?
Donald Trump obviously has a deep and abiding love for Vladimir Putin, and his fawning behavior sure does suggest he's compromised! Is he?
God only knows what skeletons President Steve Bannon is hiding in his closet.
Information on whoever else in Trump's inner circle could be part of the scandal.
Whatever U.S. and British and Israeli intelligence knows that hasn't managed to leak yet, and oh boy, considering how much has leaked, what we don't know is surely VAST and HOLY SHIT.
In short, Flynn's resignation is the tip of the iceberg. So hey media, we shouldn't blow it this time, and by "we," we mean "you."
And by the by, if we need a place to start investigating, we have a novel suggestion based on a gut feeling. Remember when Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates fifteen minutes after she said she wouldn't enforce Trump's Muslim ban? Wonder if that was a smokescreen. Because we now know that Yates warned the Trump administration in January that American intelligence knew Flynn was lying about how extensively compromised by the Russians he is, and that he could be blackmailed. We are just curious, considering the speed and efficacy of her firing, if it's possible Trump was waiting for the first above-board chance he had to get rid of her, because protecting the Russian cover-up is the most important thing at the highest levels of the Trump regime, perhaps because Trump's "election" really is a scandal "bigger than Watergate, folks," like Trump always said about Hillary's damn emails during the campaign.
Call it a hunch.
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