Morning Politocadoes!
Been a hot minute since we’ve heard from Sally Yates.
Sally Yates?
The former Assistant Attorney General was fired early in the before time, in the long, long ago, at the beginning of The Dark Times for looking into the matter of former General Michael Flynn, his dealings with the Russians, and any possible connections the Trump campaign had with the Russians. What many people believed at the time, was that because Flynn had violated the Logan Act, a two hundred year old law prohibiting unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign powers on behalf of the US, he was being interviewed. The intent of the law is to prevent the US’ position from being undermined in negotiations and that was why Flynn was interviewed by the FBI.
Now, Flynn had ultimately worked out a plea deal and agreed to work with the FBI and the Mueller Investigation. As we well by now, his sentence guidelines were relatively light, his judge was outraged by the extent of his criminal behavior calling it ‘treason’ during one sentencing hearing. Flynn has since gone on a become a gigantic QAnon fan and has worked like hell to backpedal on all of his agreements and avoid jail at all possible costs. Attorney General Bill Barr recently attempted to have the charges dismissed on the grounds that the FBI had no reason to interview him in the first place. Which is why Yates was on the Hill on Wednesday.
Senator Lindsay Graham castigated Yates, claiming that the Russia investigation was politically motivated seeking to prosecute Flynn under the Logan Act. Yates countered, that no, actually, there was legitimate concern for Flynn’s behavior beyond the Logan Act and that was what the interview was based on. The DoJ was trying to learn why Flynn was “neutering American policy” which included the Russian sanctions that the Obama Administration placed on Russia in response to their interference in the 2016 election.
Russia acted to the benefit of then candidate Trump, Flynn then acted to ease sanctions for their benefit and Flynn continued to lie and obfuscate about it.
“Had General Flynn been honest when the agents came to him and admitted what he said, the agents would have found out what the Mueller investigation discovered later. And that is that General Flynn was not acting on his own and that these were not conversations off the top of his head.”
And also, Obama, Biden, and NSA adviser Susan Rice “did not in any way attempt to direct or influence any kind of investigation.”
Sally Yates: There was a “legitimate basis” for FBI’s Flynn interview
But hey, when did the truth ever get in the way of these idiots doing what they want.
Welcome to Thursday! Please be excellent to each other in the comments. The Mayor McSquirrel Rule remains in effect. As the protests continue, please be safe, dress non-descriptively, avoid wearing contacts if you wear them normally, and keep your phones on you. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, please continue to maintain social distancing measures, wear masks in public areas, and practices sanitation policies as circumstances dictate.