I sat down with former White House lawyer Andy Wright to have a quick conversation about today’s news that President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor struck a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russian officials in 2016. While the facts are still emerging, it appears that Flynn, acting under the guidance of senior campaign officials, met with Russian officials to discuss and possibly impact diplomatic actions that the Obama administration was working on at the time. New reporting indicates that Jared Kushner may have ordered Flynn to reach out to Russian officials to inquire about delaying a vote on a UN Security Council Resolution until after after Obama left office, but this has yet to be verified.
This raises serious questions of how much Trump and members of his transition team knew about Flynn’s communications. Remember, administration officials have repeatedly denied knowledge of Flynn’s conversations, claiming among other things that he lied to Vice President Mike Pence while being vetted for the role of NSA. (White House lawyer Ty Cobb even doubled down on this claim today.) Andy and I dive into this issue and more including conspiracy to obstruct justice, the Logan Act, pardons, and high crimes and misdemeanors.
Enjoy and forgive the sub-par sound quality, this was spur of the moment!
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