Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

In my day, never was longer.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Vive La Resistance / Breaking rocks in the hot sun

Breaking rocks in the hot sun

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I’m not that big on throwing people in jail (I don’t think I’ve ever written much about wanting to prosecute people before), but I think Flynn should probably be prosecuted for this. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about a blow job. Flynn should get a little scrutiny for lying about jeopardizing the safety of the free world. You may think that sounds alarmist but I doubt many people in Finland or Estonia think it does.

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.

The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy, as lying to FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department. Some officials said bringing a case could prove difficult in part because Flynn may attempt to parse the definition of sanctions.

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  3. 3.

    PPCLI

    Hmmm…. The post’s been up for almost 10 minutes and nobody’s said this yet? OK, I’ll do it:

    LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    After the Petraeus slap on the wrist I expect Flynn to skip merrily away with even less, keeping his pension to boot. Because reasons.

  7. 7.

    Gian

    Working theory. Flynn and his ilk are religious fanatics who want a new crusade. As for lying to the FBI? Ends of white Christian Identity justify the means

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Every last Rethuglican member of Congress is an accessory to treason.

    Lock them up. Forever.

  9. 9.

    Ian

    He only called the Russian ambassador. We should be looking into if he,emailed the Russian ambassador.

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Cermet: The Army is investigating him for that trip to Russia in 2015.

    DoJ can’t stop them. It’s an internal Army affair.

    Flynn is in deep kimchi.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    Ah, that’s interesting. Carry on then, Army. Ironic that the people least impressed with his military background and rank may be the ones to take him down for good.

  14. 14.

    Feebog

    Lemme see now… Comey is the FBI Director and Sessions is now the AG. So chances are slim and none that Flynn will be prosecuted for the phone calls to the Russian Ambassador. As for the rest, What VDE said at 10.

  15. 15.

    D58826

    My question is, even if he was acting on Trump’s orders was it his job, as trump kept saying, to discuss policy changes before he was sworn in on Jan 20th? Meet and greet kind of stuff and setting up procedural protocols yes but policy changes?

  18. 18.

    Ian G.

    Where’s Adam Silverman? Frum (who has come over to the light side of the Force on the topic of Trump) has a Tweet fretting that Trump could very well purge the IC to protect himself from further investigations. Is the IC going to be able to protect itself?

  19. 19.

    Felonius Monk

    Take a page from the Republican Book of Justice: Firing Squad first, Investigation/Trial later.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:
    I’m not sure how much a pardon would help Trump. As it is, Flynn may want to clam up and take the 5th under tough questioning. If he’s pardoned, he would no longer have a worry about self-incrimination, so that wouldn’t apply.

  21. 21.

    Starfish

    @Wapiti: Trump seems really persecuted over the firing or resignation of Flynn for some reason. Other people vanish from his memory, but he is blaming the fake news for Flynn having to resign.

  22. 22.

    scav

    @rikyrah:

    I have no problem with him wearing an orange jumpsuit

    Team Orange knows to jump when he tells them to. Seems only proper for the team uniform.

    (maybe Ivanka could design and market it. keep it all in-family.)

  23. 23.

    Archon

    Are people still pretending that after everything we’ve seen from Donald Trump that’s he’s incapable of working directly with the Russians to get them to sabotage Hillary Clinton and the Democrats? Didn’t he say as much at a press conference that he wanted the Russians to intervene in the election?

    I feel that the media (for sure) and even a lot of liberals can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the implications that are staring us right in the face. Donald Trump, President of the United States is guilty of sedition.

  24. 24.

    ThresherK

    “Everything reminds you of a Twilight Zone”, Spousal ThresherK once said.

    Today, it’s “The Mirror” with Peter Falk as la revolucionary in an unnamed Latin America country. He and his fatigue-wearing compadres oust the corrupt general and take over his fancy digs. Before he’s killed, the general warns Falk about the mirror: “It will show you your enemies.”

    Of course there’s a bunch of perfect, patented, paranoid TZ stuff between Falk and his lifelong crew, and after losing whatever better nature he wanted to govern with, orders enemy after enemy killed, at the end he sees himself, and…

    Gotta wonder how many once-useful Trumpistas are showing up in that mirror, and how many will be sacrificed until Trump sees himself in it.

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mnemosyne: Trump could indeed pardon him. After all, he’s still Commander-in-Chief, and the President’s pardon powers certainly extend to anyone prosecuted by a court-martial, as we saw with Chelsea Manning.

    But I don’t think there’s a precedent for the C-in-C ever intervening before the court-martial has rendered a verdict. Not that piddling things like precedent will stop Donald, of course.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Ian G.: Oh, don’t fret about the IC. They’ve dealt with professionals, like Vlad. Donald has no fucking idea who he’s fucking with.

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    @Archon:

    Are people still pretending that after everything we’ve seen from Donald Trump that’s he’s incapable of working directly with the Russians to get them to sabotage Hillary Clinton and the Democrats? Didn’t he say as much at a press conference that he wanted the Russians to intervene in the election?

    I feel that the media (for sure) and even a lot of liberals can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the implications that are staring us right in the face. Donald Trump, President of the United States is guilty of sedition

    Hold up!!!

    I posted this just this morning.

    And, I happen to agree with the CIA (never ever thought that I would write those words)

    The ONE place in America that has NEVER forgotten Vlad’s former job as a Higher up in the KGB is LANGLEY.
    This isn’t a matter of the CIA believing that the President is Weak. They’ve lived through that. They know how to adjust to that.

    We have come to a point where the CIA believes that the President of the United States, and possibly more than one of his higher ups in the White House – are ASSETS OF A HOSTILE FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.

    Think on that.

  30. 30.

    Redshift

    Some officials said bringing a case could prove difficult in part because Flynn may attempt to parse the definition of sanctions.

    So it will depend on what the definition of “sanctions” is?

  31. 31.

    Redshift

    @Archon:

    Are people still pretending that after everything we’ve seen from Donald Trump that’s he’s incapable of working directly with the Russians to get them to sabotage Hillary Clinton and the Democrats?

    Who are these people you speak of?

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    @Starfish:

    Trump seems really persecuted over the firing or resignation of Flynn for some reason.

    Because it’s a loss, and he can’t stand losing. It’s the same reason he obsesses over the size of his election win and inauguration crowd; he knows they’re losses and he can’t give them up.

  33. 33.

    Archon

    @Redshift:

    I think a lot of people still want to believe that all this was indirect and that Trump wasn’t in effect working with the Russians to get himself elected President.

  35. 35.

    Mike in NC

    We visited Finland and Estonia a couple of years ago, and people there were not amused by Putin.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Ian G.:

    Frum (who has come over to the light side of the Force on the topic of Trump) has a Tweet fretting that Trump could very well purge the IC to protect himself from further investigations.

    That seems overblown. Trump might well try to purge the IC, but it’s a reasonable bet that a lot of the people doing the leaking are not political appointees who he has the power to fire. Unless he’s willing to gut the whole IC in pursuit of his vendetta- and imagine how that’s going to go over- he’s going to have a hard time of it. I’d be more worried about the DOJ pursuing the leaks by demanding reporters disclose their sources and threatening them with contempt if they refuse. That wouldn’t win him any friends in the media, but that’s water already under the bridge.

  37. 37.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Starfish: He gets really wound up about threats to/takedowns of his RU connections. He doesn’t understand that it’s a tell. There’s a lot he doesn’t understand, of course.

  39. 39.

    Felonius Monk

    @Redshift:

    So it will depend on what the definition of “sanctions” is?

    Of course, it’s sorta like parsing whether or not a blow-job is sexual relations — a la the “Lewinsky Scandal”.

  43. 43.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mike in NC: Some of the corroboration of the Flynn leaks comes from NATO sources, not US intel. I read that some state in the Baltics (or all of them) had been monitoring the Donald campaign out of their own national security concerns.

  45. 45.

    Mike in DC

    They should try to get Flynn to roll over on the other rats. Flip them one by one to get to Trump.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Archon:

    We’re trying not to look like conspiracy theorists. But when there’s an actual conspiracy happening right in front of you …

  47. 47.

    bemused

    @scav:

    I want to see him in a strait jacket. Better yet orange strait jacket locked up in prison maximum security unit for mentally dangerous. And the rest of his crowd tried and jailed.

  48. 48.

    Turgidson

    lying to FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department.

    So, no, they won’t prosecute…

    …unless they unearth some of Hillary’s emails that show him lying about something. Then they’ll throw the book at him.

    Thanks Comey.

  49. 49.

    sukabi

    @Cermet: I’m rooting for the mIlitary investigation into his being paid by Russia …. violating the emoulents clause applies to military and former military…

    Breaking rocks at Leavenworth would work for me.

  50. 50.

    jhtrotter

    @Roger Moore: Maybe a trump vendetta against IC community leakers could be the best thing sane people could hope for. Maybe a whistleblower protection act case could force the disclosure of the info that he and his dickfor party would rather you not know.

    Or not, but I’m all for just endlessly brainfawking him.

  51. 51.

    Barry

    @Mnemosyne: “Trump could pardon Flynn if he’s court-martialed, but could he pre-pardon him? I honestly don’t know what the court martial process is.”

    The problem is that it doesn’t protect Flynn from subpoenas to testify. That’s what should have been done in Iran-Contra, after Bush I pardoned his henchmen.

  52. 52.

    Barry

    @Starfish: “Trump seems really persecuted over the firing or resignation of Flynn for some reason. Other people vanish from his memory, but he is blaming the fake news for Flynn having to resign.”

    Let’s assume the obvious, that Flynn was talking to the Russians on behalf of Trump……….

  55. 55.

    burnspbesq

    @Feebog:

    It’s not Comey’s decision whether or not Flynn gets indicted.

    The U.S. Attorney for D.C. makes the call whether to present the case to a grand jury. The grand jury decides whether to indict.

    If Sessions sticks his nose into the process, that will surely become public knowledge, and that will be March’s shit-storm.

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