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Martyred: Former security adviser Michael Flynn. Image: AP
Analysis
Holt Popcorn: America’s election campaign is so dirty
Attorney General William Barr closed the case against Michael Flynn. This is the beginning of a dirty campaign against Joe Biden.
Michael Flynn was Trump’s national security adviser for a full 23 days. Then he had to resign because he had lied to the FBI and Vice President Mike Pence. Justice Minister Bill Barr has closed the case against Flynn. What’s going on here? First a quick review.
Michael Flynn was a lieutenant general in the United States Army and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. In other words, he was an experienced soldier and an intelligence professional. However, he was not a good boss.
The Obama administration, therefore, put him on the sidelines. Deeply frustrated, former Democrat Flynn became a fervent Trump fan and campaign aide. He earned the affection of the future president and was rewarded with the position of National Security Advisor.
A Picture of Better Days: Michael Flynn (center) alongside the President and Steve Bannon in the Oval Office. Image: AP / AP
In the transition phase between Trump’s electoral victory and his inauguration, President Obama still deported 37 Russian diplomats in retaliation for interference in the electoral campaign. Flynn then called then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and asked him not to take any retaliatory measures. The appointed government adviser assured the new government.
Calls to the Russian embassy are routinely answered by United States intelligence agencies, including the one between Flynn and Kislyak. With his promise, Flynn violated a dark law of more than 200 years, the so-called Logan Law. That would not have been a problem. However, Flynn subsequently lied to both the Vice President and the FBI.
Why Flynn lied has remained his secret to this day. In any case, he was exposed, and that was the end of his brief mission at the White House. “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the vice president and the FBI,” the disappointed President Trump tweeted in late January 2017.
This drawing shows Flynn in front of the judge. Image: AP / FR31454 AP
Lying to the FBI is a crime that can result in up to five years in prison. Flynn pleaded guilty to this crime, first in writing, then under oath before a judge. However, because Flynn had cooperated with special investigator Robert Mueller’s team, the judge was advised to only issue a light probation.
A possible additional claim was also ruled out. Flynn had worked for Turkey for $ 500,000 and was silent about it.
An experienced military and intelligence professional commits a crime that he knows well and pleads guilty. It would be understandable if the President forgave him for this. After all, Flynn was a loyal Trump server. But Flynn’s story has now taken a completely different turn.
It all started when Flynn reversed her confession and changed her legal adviser. The FBI betrayed him insidiously, the new version, which Flynn’s new attorney vigorously released. This despite the fact that even the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was dominated by Republicans, confirmed that there was no reason to “question the conclusions of the intelligence agencies.”
The conservative judge in the Flynn trial had found nothing wrong with the charges. Rather, he accused Flynn of “treason,” was outraged at the small sentence the prosecution demanded, and therefore adjourned the trial.
Politicized the law: Secretary of Justice William Barr. Image: EPA
However, an entirely new narrative was announced in the conservative media, especially on Fox News: Flynn was a war hero who was lured into a trap by superior FBI cowardly superiors like James Comey and then blackmailed into confessing it. Therefore, everything is a perfidious machination of the so-called “deep state” with the aim of defrauding the Trump presidency.
Judge Barr has now followed this version. He closed the case against Flynn on the grounds that “it was conducted without a legal basis” and it was also not shown that Flynn had given false information. Given Flynn’s repeated confessions, this is an incredible reason.
But it’s not surprising: Since Barr has had a voice in the Department of Justice, the separation of powers and the rule of law in the United States has been a thing of the past. The law is politicized, the Minister of Justice now blatantly represents the interests of the President.
Barr was the first official act to release a completely twisted version of the Mueller report. Barr has also interfered with the trial of former Trump friend Roger Stone, and is using all means to initiate a lawsuit against former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe.
The lifting of the Flynn case only makes political sense. Flynn is said to be stylized as a martyr for the Obama administration and used as a weapon against Joe Biden. The New York Times, therefore, comments on the whole matter as follows:
It’s hard to overstate how dangerous it is. It is only a small step to use the Department of Justice to protect your friends, until then using it as a weapon against your enemies. In other words, be careful, Joe Biden.
Everything indicates that Trump wants to turn the Russia issue into a Biden issue. The president has already informed reporters that Flynn’s trial was “a total shame” and that “he would not be surprised if a lot of things happened in the coming weeks.”
The crown crisis has robbed Trump of the central pillar of his planned election campaign: a booming economy. So he will do his best to drag the Joe Biden character to earth, and will not shy away from anything.
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