Donald Trump receives questions from journalists on April 30.Jim Loscalzo / CNP via ZUMA Wire
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A full-fledged right-wing freakout in the announcement planned by the FBI for the hope that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn would lie in a January 2016 interview, was, inevitably, drawn to political operative Roger Stone. President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he could forgive Flynn and Stone, who have each been found to have lied to federal investigators about the Russia Russia scandal.
What they did to Gen. Flynn, and by the way, to Roger Stone and others, was a disaster and a disgrace, and it should not be allowed to happen again in this country, Trump said when asked about forgiveness to Flynn.
(embedded) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LTVOYYeZ60 (/ embedded)
Interestingly, Trump and his supporters, are not saying that Flynn and Stone are not lying to federal investigators. Instead they indicate that lying to investigators is not important.
Trump and his supporters begin on the premise that the Trump-Russia scandal is a fornication, a claim that has been initiated by the failure of special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional Democrats to prove a criminal conspiracy between Trump and Russia campaign. As a result, Tump and company say, investigations into their behavior are unfair, with any resulting product prosecution being overstated.
This is Trumps main gaslight. The lies of Flynn and Stone, and Trump himself, helped prevent investigators from finding out what really happened during the Trump and Russia campaign in 2016, benefiting Trumps first and foremost, who misrepresented so much that losses. In the pardon of Stone and Flynn, the president will reward them for that service, and will use the pandemonium and its mass of supporters to drown anyone who has noticed the con.
The argument that Flynn and Stone were railroads, long popular talking points on the right, came to light Wednesday, when the federal prosecutor in Flynns case revealed handwritten letters Bill Priestap, head of the FBIs counterintelligence, made before FBI agents in an interview with Flynn in the White House in January 2016. Agents know that Flynn spoke in December 2016 to Sergey Kislyak, the ambassador of Russia in the US, about sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama on Russia, is a clear violation of the Logan Act. Preistap wrote: What is our purpose? Truth / Admittance or for him to lie, so we can chase him or shoot him?
Those are material missteps in the investigation of Russian election interference.
While conservative pundits treat these records as smoking evidence that framed Flynn, legal experts say the FBIs tactics against Flynn are unusual. Federal agents often try to catch targets in situations where they will admit crimes or lies, which will open themselves up to prosecution. In a guilty plea, Flynn admitted to lying to FBI agents. (He also said under oath that he did not believe the FBI had entered him.) Flynns lawyers are trying to move his plea not to trespass, and also demand that the case be dismissed. The judge handling the case was not ruled on those requests.
Trump also confirms in Stones lawyers arguments that the self-described dirty cheater has been unfairly convicted because the DCs premier female judge in social media posts criticized Trump; the judge in the case denied this contention.
Stone and Flynns lies are part of a pattern. Muellers report, despite its oppressive conclusions, has undeniably revealed that the president and his advisers reacted to the declarations of Russias campaigns in perpetuity. Some lies are public: Trump claims there is no business in Russia. In fact, at the time his employees were looking for the Kremlin helped promote a Trump-branded project there. Trumps campaign spokesman Hope Hicks said in November 2016 that there was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign. Mueller mentioned more than 100 contacts by campaign in Russia alone.
Along with Stone and Flynn, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos went to jail for lying to federal agents or lawmakers. Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates and campaign chairman Paul Manafort have been found lying to investigators, among other crimes. The Justice Department said in February that it was looking into whether Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and Trumps campaign adviser, had lied to the House Intelligence testimony in the 2017 testimony.
Reliable Trump boosters like Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), Rush Limbaugh, and Alan Dershowitz laughed at the perjury charges as a process of crime, suggesting they were charges brought by prosecutors because they couldnt find more serious thing. However, Mueller and prosecutors have repeatedly said that the Trump associates falsity is detrimental to their efforts. The investigation established that many individuals associated with the Trump Campaign lied to the Office, and to Congress, about their contact with Russia-related individuals and related matters, Mueller wrote. Those are material missteps in the investigation of Russian election interference.
Trump has no passive observer. He actively encouraged the organizations stonewall Mueller and Congress, hoping for forgiveness for those who refused to cooperate. Muellers report examined 10 instances in which Trump could have interfered with justice to interrupt the investigation. That includes Trumps pressure on former-FBI James Comey to stop investigating Flynn in 2017. And one of Trumps lawyers, John Dowd, left Flynns attorney in late 2017 suggesting that Trump would have supported Flynn if he had not been given evidence by prosecutors about Trump. (Dowd denies that this is an explicit offer of a pardon in exchange for silence.)
Trump himself declined to be interviewed by Mueller. And as reported by Mother Jones, the president appears to have lied to the written answers he gave Mueller in which he claimed to miss Stones 2016 communications about WikiLeaks. Stones trial testimony by Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon revealed that Trump spoke during a campaign with Stone about WikiLeaks, and campaign officials viewed Stone as a conduit to WikiLeaks.
Flynn and Stones attorneys argued that because prosecutors did not prove that their clients had conspired with Russia, their lies to investigators should be set aside. So most of this case has to do with the question: So what? Stone attorney Bruce Rogow said in his closing comments on Stones trial. Prosecutors and judges in those cases have repeatedly denied those claims.
Federal District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, at Stones sentencing, spoke at length on Stones dishonesty, saying he had stopped a key part of the Russia House investigation. His pride in his own lies is a threat to our most fundamental institutions, he said, to the very foundation of our democracy.
He was not accused, as some have complained, for standing up for the president, Jackson said. He has been accused of disguise for president.
The rest is here:
Donald Trump's defense of Michael Flynn and Roger Stone is a giant gaslight - The Media Hell
