Flynn Immunity Request

In July, 2003, Robert Novak noted that Joseph Wilson had been suggested for the job of confirming the Saddam Hussein yellow cake story in Niger by his wife, Valerie Plame.  The CIA requested an investigation to determine who had 'leaked' Plame's name to Novak.  The firestorm commenced with suggestions that the Bush Administration had leaked Plame's name for revenge against Joe Wilson's debunking the yellow cake story.  With that in mind, the targets of the ensuing investigation quickly became Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and VP Dick Cheney.  However, when all was revealed, the leaker proved to be Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, which the investigation knew almost from the beginning.  Therefore, almost right out the gate, Special Counsel Fitzgerald knew that Novak's leak came from Richard Armitage.  Armitage was charged with no crimes.  Ergo, the very act that was the impetus for the investigation was found not to be criminal.  $2.6 million spent on investigating something that was not a crime and resulted in no prosecutions?  Unthinkable.  Therefore, Scooter Libby, who demonstrably did not leak Plame's name, was charged with 5 crimes and convicted of 4 in association with the investigation.  Thus, Dick told Bob about Valerie and Scooter was blamed.

 

Libby was charged with perjury, making false statements, and obstruction of justice.  Why?  He wasn't involved in releasing Plame's name and had no reason to lie.  Fitzgerald announced that Libby had prevented the grand jury from determining if the leak had been a federal crime.  Huh?  The testimony of Libby was going to determine whether Armitage's leaking was a crime?  Libby was done in because his testimony did not match that of Judith Miller, who had taken notes of her conversations with Libby.  Fitzgerald viewed discrepancies as Libby lying and obstructing.  As he did not leak the name, Libby got a raw deal.  Unless Flynn is a dedicated diarist, his memory is going to be inconsistent.  Such could be judged criminal.

 

Seeing the fate of Libby, Mike Flynn may just be taking rational precautions.  Immunity is a tool to bypass the little fish and catch the big fish.  If Flynn can expose a bigger fish, why not give him immunity to do so?  Maybe he expose Trump's dealings with Russia, if there are any.  Maybe he can shed light on who is leaking to the media, such as who leaked Flynn's name.  Either of these would be blockbusters.  Of course, the former is unlikely or immunity would already have been offered; neither party likes President Trump.

Leaking is Bad except when it's Good

In the wake of Trump's victory, the story arose that the Russians had hacked the election.  That vague declaration is intentional.  What is alleged is that the Russians managed to hack the DNC server and tricked John Podesta into revealing his email password.  The trove of emails were provided to WikiLeaks who published them throughout the campaign.  They were very embarrassing for the Democrats and Hillary.  However, we were repeatedly told by the media and the Democrats that the content of the emails was secondary to the hacking.  The people who provided the emails were very bad people.  Pay no attention to the emails and instead focus your indignant rage on those who revealed them.  Yes, it may all be true but the voters have no right to know.  Okay, I accept your terms.

Members of the deep state, likely holdovers from the Obama Administration, have been leaking the contents of secret phone calls that President Trump and his staff - notably Michael Flynn - to the media.  By the recently established rules, the media should blast the leakers for letting the public know about these phone calls.  No?  It turns out that now the leakers are heroes to be praised while the media reports with gusto about the content of the leaked phone calls.  Huh.

It is this sort of reporting that has led to the precipitous decline in trust for the media.  We have heads I win tails you lose reporting.  It reminds me of how government shutdowns are always the fault of the Republicans.  Republican president and Democratic Congress?  President is at fault for shutdown.  Democratic president and Republican Congress?  Congress is at fault.  The media too often functions as the PR department for the Democratic Party.

Out Like Flynn

The always exciting and rarely predictable Trump presidency continues.  National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, only confirmed 3 weeks ago, is already out the door.  It is strange that one of Trump's least controversial picks - he's a Democrat - should be the first to go.  The news so far is that he was under investigation for a conversations with Russian officials in which he talked about the sanctions that President Obama imposed in the wake of Russian hacking during the election.  Interestingly, it was Acting Attorney General Yates - whom Trump fired - that informed the administration of his talks.  The problem was not that he conversed with Russian officials but that he failed to report the scope of the conversations.

 

Will Trump have a higher than usual turnover rate?  How many of the current cabinet members and advisors will still be in the administration next year?