I knew it was humor, but it bothered me. Pope John Paul II had been the driving force behind the peaceful liberation of Poland from the Soviet empire. He is often credited with contributing to the destruction of that empire itself.
The recent public statement from Donald Trump’s attorney reminded me of a grim joke in 2005 that briefly circulated as followers mourned that death. The message from attorney Ty Cobb was a lawyer’s statement filled with lawyer’s phrasing, each word carefully chosen to mislead.
Today, Michael Flynn, a former National Security Advisor at the White House for 25 days during the Trump Administration, and a former Obama administration official, entered a guilty plea to a single count of making a false statement to the FBI.
The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year. Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn. The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel’s work demonstrates again that the Special Counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion.
So let’s take a closer look:
“…guilty plea to a single count…” was an attempt to minimize the deal. It sounds less significant. A single count of wrongdoing isn’t that much, right?
General Flynn did not simply “enter a guilty plea”. He entered a plea bargain, agreeing to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump campaign activities. There was no indication of when that deal began. How long had he been cooperating? Had he been recording conversations that could be used against others?
“Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
Implicating culprits other than Mr. Flynn was not the purpose of the guilty plea. Implicating others was the purpose of the cooperation.
Continue reading “Flipping Off Flynn”
