Posted on 05/02/2020 7:24:54 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday he is “inclined more than ever” to believe retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn did not intentionally mislead him about his conversations with a Russian envoy, which was a reason cited by President Trump for asking him to resign as national security adviser in early 2017.
He made the comments after the FBI records released on Thursday have been touted by Flynn's lawyer, Sidney Powell, as exculpatory evidence heretofore concealed from the defense team. They show that now-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and others in the FBI’s leadership stopped the bureau from closing its investigation into Flynn in early January 2017 after investigators had uncovered “no derogatory information” on him. Emails from later that month show Strzok, along with then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page and several others, sought out ways to continue investigating Flynn.
“I think Gen. Michael Flynn is a patriotic American who served with great distinction (blah blah blah). And I’m deeply troubled by the revelations (blah blah blah) — and we are going to continue to look into that very carefully. But my respect for Gen. Flynn personally, for his service to the country, is undiminished,” Pence told reporters. “And I’m inclined more than ever to believe that what he communicated to me back during the transition leading to our inauguration was unintentional and that he was not attempting to misrepresent facts."
(snip)
The vice president’s comments about Flynn on Thursday stand in contrast to those he made in December 2017, when CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked: “When he was fired, did you know he had lied to the FBI?”
Pence answered: “What I can tell you is I knew he lied to me. And I know the president made the right decision with regard to him.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
“I hope Trump places Flynn into high-level position in the Defense or intelligence community.”
Move Wray to Leavenworth.
Move Flynn into Wray’s position.
I think Pence had far more trust in the FBI and intel community than Trump. That seems to be the common MO for those inside the beltway.
We don’t know what Yates or the FBI told Pence. We do know that Pence and Flynn had a conversation and later Pence was told that Flynn made a “misrepresentation” or a “lie” about Russia.
In other words... the FBI did get him fired. Then the Special Counsel came along and prosecuted him for the same thing. Didn’t we just see this script a few days ago for the first time?
The “notes” prior to the interview of Flynn were quite accurate after all. Let’s hope the part about the White House being furious about them playing games was another accurate forecast.
“Make him Director of Revenge.”
I like the way you think!
1. Several of the phone calls Flynn had with the Russian ambassador were conducted on his personal mobile phone while he was on vacation in the Dominican Republic in December 2016. This seems like an egregious breach of security protocols to me. For what it's worth, I also understand that placing these calls from a foreign country effectively stripped Flynn of any legal protection he had against being "unmasked" by U.S. intelligence officials. That's why the Washington Post was able to publish the contents of those calls -- and identify Flynn as the guy involved in them -- without violating U.S. laws that are supposed to protect the identify of U.S. citizens whose phone calls are under surveillance.
2. One of the things Flynn apparently discussed with the Russian ambassador was the pending vote on the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. It was reported that Flynn tried to convince the Russian government to vote against this U.N. resolution. If true, then this would seem to be an incredibly reckless and audacious breach of protocol for anyone involved in a presidential transition. In effect, Flynn was lobbying AGAINST the U.S. government on this.
Either one of these seems like a perfectly legitimate reason to fire Flynn. In fact, I'd say they might even disqualify anyone from even working as a janitor in the White House.
Ok, so I’m convinced that Flynn was set up for a process crime by the FBI. That being said, what is it about him that makes him such a target?
Wow, sir/ma’me, you’ve touched a hornets’ nest.
There are literally tons (well, maybe dozens) of articles about why Flynn was targeted.
Your guess is just as valid as anybody else’s.
[In effect, Flynn was lobbying AGAINST the U.S. government on this.]
Bottom line is that it’s not entirely clear that Flynn’s actions were improper or even out of line with the Trump administration’s policy. You may dislike Trump for his pro-Israel tendencies, but Trump doesn’t just favor Israel - he likes Jews generally, and has surrounded himself with Jewish advisors from the very beginning, starting with his consigliere Roy Cohn, who was one of Joe McCarthy’s key aides. There is simply no way that Flynn’s lobbying against the Jew-haters in the Obama administration and the UN put him in bad odor with Trump.
The Pence/Flynn conversation impressed me as a cover story for the firing from the start. The WH didn’t want to remove Flynn for supposedly proving out the Russia Russia narrative. That would have given it credibility.
They concocted the Pence conversation story as less hurtful and the General went along with it. He had nothing to lose at that point.
They can now back away from it as Flynn gets exonerated. I believe the Pres. will bring him back in the administration
I fully agree.
Pence isn’t getting my vote in 2024 regardless.
We have far better rising stars.
James Justice, Governor of West Virginia for example. Got an old factory up and running to produce hydroxychloroquine in his state back in March.
The Governor of South Dakota who never shut down.
Pence has no “right” to the nomination and probably would underperform Bob Dole.
Pence isn’t getting my vote in 2024 regardless.
We have far better rising stars.
James Justice, Governor of West Virginia for example. Got an old factory up and running to produce hydroxychloroquine in his state back in March.
The Governor of South Dakota who never shut down.
Pence has no “right” to the nomination and probably would underperform Bob Dole.
“Pence said Thursday he is “inclined more than ever” to believe retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn did not intentionally mislead him”
Well jackass, maybe you should be sure before you run to the TV cameras then to accuse him. And maybe you should be sure before you bring in Dan Coats as DNI, and McMaster to to replace Flynn.
Pence is a snake. It wasn’t accidental. He was convinced by Yates that Trump would be gone soon and he would take over. he was gently pushing the effort along.
“Pence is a good Veep, but far to weak and squishy to ever be president.”
The veep is supposed to be the attack dog. He has been SILENT during Mueller and all the other attacks. Very rarely some halfhearted assist. And he calls his wife “mom”. Before Trump he was an open borders free traitor.
No use for him.
Pence is to Trump, as Bush was to Reagan. A GOPe plant to keep him under control.
” Despite his “clean evangelical” image, I have never trusted him,”
He’s a solid Christian. That and a dime will get you a cup of coffee. Jimmy Carter is a good Christian man too. He sucked as a president. W would be a wonderful next door neighbor. Worthless as a president.
“but that sort of goes with the job of VP. Lay low, and don’t cause any problems for the Top Dog.”
Not when the president is under unparalleled attack. Then he is supposed to be the attack dog. Pence was the pit-yorkie.
I don’t know him personally, so I can’t judge the authenticity of his Christian profession. I have known a number of people who look like fine Christians from a distance, but upon getting to know them better the sincerity of their faith became questionable. I just have observed that Pence is loyal to Trump when it is to his advantage. Also, his senior staff are mostly never Trumpers and his best friend is Jeff Flake.
I’m surprised Obama listed North Korea first since he enabled them as much as he enabled the others, and paid off Iran.
I’ve never trusted Pence. Never. He has too much to gain if Trump somehow is removed. Meanwhile, it seems he goes out of his way to not piss off the opposition.
Pence is best friends with Flake? I never heard THAT before. That’s not good.
Michael Flynn had less formal/official standing to carry out these things than that cabal of mutants like Mr. Vindman and the CIA/NSA apparatus that worked to undermine President Trump in 2019. Just think about that.
Take it at face value because it's CNN, but I've seen this same thing reported elsewhere:
If there is even an ounce of truth to this, then this further reinforces my view that Flynn damn well deserved to be fired. And Jared Kushner should have been fired, too. Do you think it's a coincidence that this apparently ties back to a senior Trump aide who is not only a lifelong Democrat himself, but whose family has been a fixture in New Jersey Democrat machine politics for decades?
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