Why the Situation with Michael Flynn is so Concerning

And how part of the Trump – Russia influence may have been surreptitiously planted by Flynn’s council.

OK, let’s talk about this for a minute. Donald Trump, a man with zero foreign policy experience, chose Michael Flynn to be one of his top advisors during his presidential campaign. When a candidate does not have much foreign policy experience they heavily rely on their foreign policy advisors to help shape their view of the world. Advisors are constantly providing their candidate with cliff notes versions of big and complex issues, helping the candidates form opinions on what should or shouldn’t be done, and developing what their policies would be if they are elected president.

While Trump was shouting his promise of America First, Michael Flynn was being paid upwards of half a million dollars to act as a foreign agent for Turkey and put their interests first. We also found out later that Flynn was meeting with Russian officials and did not disclose this information to US authorities. Given that Turkey and Russia have grown closer in recent years, and that Flynn lied about his dealings with the Russians, it is not unreasonable to think that Flynn was acting on behalf of not only Turkey but Russia as well.

The Russia connection grows even strong when we consider that in 2015 Michael Flynn was paid more than $45,000 plus additional perks to speak at a gala in Russia, and was seated next to Vladimir Putin, it is more than likely that Russia had Flynn’s ear, or more.

Flynn was part of the Trump transition team and Trump chose him to be his first national security advisor, one of the most powerful positions in the White House. Flynn was forced to resign/was fired just 24 days into theTrump presidency when it became clear that Flynn was not open about his dealings with Russian officials. While he wasn’t in the White House for very long, Flynn had plenty of time to influence Trump’s understanding of foreign policy.

Today, Michael Flynn was to be sentenced by a federal judge for lying to the FBI. Supposedly, Flynn has been cooperating heavily with the Mueller investigation and as such the special counsel’s office recommended that Flynn receive little to no jail time. However, the judge today didn’t seem to be having any of it.

“All along, you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the National Security Adviser to the President of the United States. That undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out.”

– Judge Sullivan

Sullivan also asked whether the Muller team considered prosecuting Flynn for treason. After a lot of hints by judge Sullivan to the defense that it might behoove Flynn to consider cooperating further with the Mueller investigation ahead of his sentencing.

The sentencing has now been postponed and we’ll have to wait and see what happens next. Unfortunately, we may never know how much of an influence Flynn had on Trump’s worldview and foreign policy, and how much of Flynn’s advice was being fed to him by Russia or another country.

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