Sorry, Trump, no conspiracy
Yates: Slimy Flynn was in bed with Russians
WASHINGTON — There was no effort or conspiracy by Barack Obama to prosecute Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates testified Wednesday.
“No such thing happened,” Yates told the Senate Judiciary Committee when quizzed about a Jan. 5, 2017, meeting with the former president, vice president and top law enforcement officials at the White House.
During the meeting, the president, the vice president and the national security adviser did not attempt to any way to direct or influence any investigation, Yates said.
The meeting is a focus of conservatives, including Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who believes that the investigation of Flynn and Russian election interference was part of an Obama administration plot to stop Trump.
Graham and other Republicans were intent on the belief that then-Vice President Joe Biden raised the idea in that meeting of targeting Flynn — who has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI — for violations of the Logan Act, a never-used law that bars citizens from conducting foreign policy.
Flynn had been having back-channel discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including after the Obama administration booted dozens of Russian agents and leveled sanctions on Russia on Dec. 29, 2016, for its election interference.
Ahead of Trump being sworn into office, Flynn called Kislyak to say the new administration would be more forgiving. Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced the next day that Russia would not retaliate, and Trump praised him on Twitter.
But Kislyak had apparently been under surveillance, and U.S. intelligence officials captured the calls, prompting alarm in the outgoing administration, which had already been investigating Russia’s efforts to help Trump.
Yates said that was the reason for fresh interest in Flynn — not some scheme to use the Logan Act to target Trump and Flynn.
“We had Gen. Flynn engaging in discussions with the Russian ambassador that were essentially neutering the American sanctions,” Yates said. “And that is a very curious thing to be doing, particularly when the Russians have been acting to benefit President Trump — and then covering it up, he’s lying about it.”
Just prior to her testimony, Trump angrily tweeted: “Sally Yates has zero credibility. She was a part of the greatest political crime of the Century, and ObamaBiden knew EVERYTHING!”
Graham and other Republicans insisted on focusing on the Logan Act violation, which Yates said was extremely unlikely to have ever been pursued, though she admitted the idea surfaced.
“I don’t know how many times I can say that that wasn’t the prism,” Yates said. “It was a counterintelligence threat.”
Graham noted that Yates, who was No. 2 at the Department of Justice, was surprised to learn of the Flynn calls in that Jan. 5 meeting, but FBI Director James Comey, Obama and possibly Biden, already were aware.
“These were not off-thecuff conversations that he [Flynn] was having with the Russian ambassador,” Yates said. “These were conversations that were carefully organized and planned with other members of the Trump transition.”
Flynn was so thorough in his lies that he dispatched a deputy to feed a false story on the calls to The Washington Post, she said.
“The coverup continued after that, as he told lies to more and more people,” Yates said. One of those was Vice President Mike Pence, who repeated the lies on television, she said.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) explained why that was a problem. “Gen. Flynn could be blackmailed because he was lying about the content of his conversations with the Russians,” he said.
Despite Yates’ explanations about the problems with Flynn, Graham and Republicans are intent on pursuing their probe of the Russian probe further.