*This story is especially relevant to what we're going through now, as the Big Lie* *that was (and still is) "Russia-gate" served not just to heighten liberal animosity* *toward Trump, but, even more important, to heighten liberal reverence for those* *shady federal agencies that (seem to have) faced off against him—the * *same * *authoritarian **posture that the Big Lie now oppressing us has pushed to an * *extreme. (I'll soon be sending out a great piece by Matt Taibbi, which also * *devastates Flynn's prosecution, but with a focus on the Democrats' abandonment* *of civil liberties.)*
*MCM * New Documents from the Sham Prosecution of Gen. Michael Flynn Also Reveal Broad Corruption in the Russia-gate Investigations Glenn Greenwald <https://theintercept.com/staff/glenn-greenwald/> May 14 2020, 9:49 a.m. https://theintercept.com/2020/05/14/new-documents-from-the-sham-prosecution-of-gen-michael-flynn-also-reveal-broad-corruption-in-the-russiagate-investigations/ GEN. MICHAEL FLYNN, President Obama’s former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/us/politics/michael-flynn-guilty-russia-investigation.html> on December 1, 2017, to a single count of lying to the FBI about two conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while Flynn served as a Trump transition team official (Flynn was never charged for any matters <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/us/politics/barr-flynn-case-justice-department.html> relating to his relationship with the Turkish government). As part of the plea deal, special counsel Robert Mueller recommended no jail time for Flynn <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mueller-files-key-sentencing-recommendation-trump-adviser-michael/story?id=59597161>, and the plea agreement also seemingly put an end to threats from the Mueller team to prosecute Flynn’s son. Last Thursday, the Justice Department filed a motion <https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.198.0_6.pdf> seeking to dismiss the prosecution of Flynn based, in part, on newly discovered documents <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/michael-flynn-lawyers-fbi-documents.html> revealing that the conduct of the FBI, under the leadership of Director James Comey and his now-disgraced Deputy Andrew McCabe (who himself was forced to leave the Bureau after being caught lying to agents <https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ex-fbi-official-andrew-mccabe-faces-prospect-of-criminal-charges>), was improper and motivated by corrupt objectives. That motion prompted histrionic <https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1258542305465659393> howls <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/opinion/sunday/michael-flynn-william-barr-justice-department.html> of outrage <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/09/obama-leaked-conversation-us-rule-of-law-at-risk-flynn-case-dropped> from <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2000-doj-officials-call-ag-barr-resign-flynn/story?id=70615677> the same political officials and their media allies who have spent the last three years pushing maximalist Russiagate conspiracy theories. But the prosecution of Flynn — for allegedly lying to the FBI when he denied in a January 24 interrogation that he had discussed with Kislyak on December 29 the new sanctions and expulsions <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/us/politics/russia-election-hacking-sanctions.html> imposed on Russia by the Obama administration — was always odd for a number of reasons. To begin with, the FBI agents who questioned Flynn said afterward that they did not believe he was lying (as CNN reported <https://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/fbi-not-expected-to-pursue-charges-against-flynn/index.html> in February 2017: “the FBI interviewers believed Flynn was cooperative and provided truthful answers. Although Flynn didn’t remember all of what he talked about, they don’t believe he was intentionally misleading them, the officials say”). For that reason, CNN said, “the FBI is not expected to pursue any charges against” him. More importantly, there was no valid reason for the FBI to have interrogated Flynn about his conversations with Kislyak in the first place. There is nothing remotely untoward or unusual — let alone criminal — about an incoming senior national security official, three weeks away from taking over, reaching out to a counterpart in a foreign government to try to tamp down tensions. As the Washington Post put it <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michael-flynn-charged-with-making-false-statement-to-the-fbi/2017/12/01/e03a6c48-d6a2-11e7-9461-ba77d604373d_story.html>, “it would not be uncommon for incoming administrations to interface with foreign governments with whom they will soon have to work.” Click on the link for the rest. -- If you appreciate News From Underground, please consider making a donation — either a one-time gift or a monthly subscription: http://markcrispinmiller.com/support/ Thank you for your support. Ways to unsubscribe: 1) send a blank email to [email protected] PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. 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