1/14/2017

CABINET/NATIONAL SECURITY/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL FLYNN: "President Trump may have thought the departure of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, would end the controversy over his administration’s involvement with Russia, but the damning revelations keep coming. The whole fiasco underscores the dysfunction and dishonesty of his White House and how ill prepared it is to protect the nation…
On Tuesday, the White House admitted that Mr. Trump was told more than two weeks ago about Mr. Flynn’s deception, even though the president told reporters on Friday that he was unaware of a news report to that effect. Mr. Flynn, a hothead and an ideologue, was not fit to be national security adviser in the first place. That Mr. Trump clung to such a compromised person in such a sensitive position is at best an abysmal failure of judgment. As late as Monday, Mr. Flynn was in security briefings and had access to the president…
The Times also reported Tuesday that current and former American officials said other Trump associates and campaign officials had had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.
Mr. Flynn and Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, had been in touch during the campaign and after President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia on Dec. 29 for hacking the Democrats’ campaign computers, allegedly to benefit Mr. Trump in the election, according to intelligence reports and official sources cited by The Post. Mr. Kislyak’s communications had been monitored by the F.B.I., revealing his contacts with Mr. Flynn."

 – “The Missing Pieces in the Flynn Story,” The New York Times online, Feb. 14, 2017, The Editorial Board, 1/14/2017

Posted in Uncategorized