Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Friday March 31 2017, @01:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the trump-card dept.

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has reportedly offered to testify about President Trump's campaign and Russia:

President Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has reportedly told the FBI that he is willing to testify about the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia, in exchange for immunity from prosecution, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Flynn resigned in February, after it was reported that he misled White House staff on his interactions with Russia and had discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak ahead of President Trump's inauguration. The Journal reported, citing officials familiar with the matter, that the FBI and the House and Senate Intelligence committees that are investigating Russia's attempts to interfere in the U.S. election have not taken his lawyers up on the offer.

Flynn's lawyer said in a statement that "General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit."

[...] In September, criticizing Hillary Clinton over former aides being given immunity deals as part of an investigation into her private email server, Flynn said, "When you're given immunity that means you've probably committed a crime."

Also at the LA Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, NYT, and Politico.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @02:47PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @02:47PM (#487095)

    The background you're missing was the ENTIRE ELECTION. Trump lost the popular vote but won the electoral college via Russian inference in flyover states by pushing fake news against Clinton and Democrats in general. Had fake news narratives not been pushed so hard, like the insanely stupid "pizzagate" nonsense, these poor rural folks would have not had their consciences swayed and Clinton would have rightfully won.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +4  
       Flamebait=1, Insightful=1, Interesting=1, Informative=3, Total=6
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @03:05PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @03:05PM (#487103)
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @04:39PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @04:39PM (#487156)

      Loli haet pizza. :(

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:05PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:05PM (#487247)

        Sometimes you need the classics. Like the free candy van.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @03:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @03:16PM (#487107)

    What has been shown without a doubt is that Podesta was "hacked" by clicking on a password reset phishing email that sent him to some dodgy .tk site where he then had enter his credentials. This phishing scheme was also endorsed as genuine by their utterly incompetent "tech team." Later revealed is that they were using credentials, even if only temporarily, such as jpodesta:p@ssw0rd. With this sort of technical knowledge, they were likely hacked by every single intelligence agency in the world, and a good chunk of enthusiasts. Attributing everything to Russia reeks of politicking. Also the evidence for such claims is self contradictory. They're supposed to be primo-ultra-elite hackers yet the way they were outed was by leaving giant packages that lead right back to them along with using domains that also led right back to them. That doesn't really make any sense at all.

    There was and continues to be enormous amounts of "fake news" on both sides of the aisle. As has been pointed out, this very thread is an example of such. It's obviously trying to imply that Flynn is ready to drop bombshells. Here's what Flynn's statement actually says:

    Counsel to Lt. General Mike Flynn (Retired)

                    General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit.

                    Out of respect for the Committees, we will not comment right now on the details of discussions between counsel for General Flynn and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, other than to confirm that those discussions have taken place. But it is important to acknowledge the circumstances in which those discussions are occurring.

                    General Flynn is a highly decorated 33-year veteran of the U.S. Army. He devoted most of his life to serving his country, spending many years away from his family fighting this nation's battles around the world. He was awarded four Bronze Stars for actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the war on terror. He received the Legion of Merit twice, and the Defense Superior Service Medal four times. He is a recipient of the Defense Department's Distinguished Service Award and the Intelligence Community Gold Seal Medallion for Distinguished Service, as well as numerous other decorations.

                    Notwithstanding his life of national service, the media are awash with unfounded allegations, outrageous claims of treason, and vicious innuendo directed against him. He is now the target of unsubstantiated public demands by Members of Congress and other political critics that he be criminally investigated. No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution.

  • (Score: 2) by n1 on Friday March 31 2017, @04:49PM (1 child)

    by n1 (993) on Friday March 31 2017, @04:49PM (#487165) Journal

    It looks like Joe Biden has been infiltrated by the Russians too...

    "What happened was that this was the first campaign that I can recall where my party did not talk about what it always stood for -- and that was how to maintain a burgeoning middle class," Biden said during an appearance at the University of Pennsylvania. "You didn't hear a single solitary sentence in the last campaign about that guy working on the assembly line making $60,000 bucks a year and a wife making $32,000 as a hostess in restaurant."

    He added: "And they are making $90,000 and they have two kids and they can't make it and they are scared, they are frightened."

    Clinton did attempt to speak to working class voters on the campaign trail, including through multiple bus trips through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. But the overarching message of her campaign, especially at the end, was more often anti-Donald Trump than policy messaging toward these voters.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/index.html [cnn.com]

    People had a choice between more of the same and something audibly different... Two very unpopular candidates faced off in an election where the end result was not going to please the majority of people.

    Russia almost certainly did interfere with the election, spreading propaganda, the same way that various US and other international government institutions spread propaganda covertly and overtly to influence public opinion around the world. There were vast PR machines at work for either side.... One of the biggest successes was having places like CNN and other 'MSM' continually give a platform to Trump every time he said anything, which would resonate with an notable percentage of society who has felt alienated by the last 8 years of federal government rhetoric.

    Foreign policy, which is my primary concern being not in the US... I see basically no difference between Trump so far and what I would have expected from Clinton... In actions taken not words uttered.

    We continue on the same path, but with suitable branding that placates a section of the political spectrum that has felt unrepresented for the majority of the last decade.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @06:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @06:19PM (#487214)

      You've got some weird logic going on there.

      Nobody loses a campaign because they did everything wrong.
      Nor does anyone win a campaign because they did everything right.

      Whatever mistakes clinton made, russia compounded her problems.

  • (Score: 2) by Sulla on Friday March 31 2017, @08:47PM (2 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Friday March 31 2017, @08:47PM (#487318) Journal

    For me and a lot of people I know, Hillary's own words denegrating 50% of Americans as irredemable is what lost her votes. I do not know anyone swayed by pizzagate, and I know a lot of rednecks. Her attitude about deserving the office instead of earning the office turned a lot of people off, they didn't vote for Trump they voted for Jill, Gary, or stayed home.

    But I could be wrong in assuming that 70 thousand people in PA voted against her because "pizzagate is real" .

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @10:43PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @10:43PM (#487363)

      For me and a lot of people I know, Hillary's own words denegrating 50% of Americans as irredemable is what lost her votes.

      So, the entire country is now trump voters?

      Because her own words were actually, "you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables."
      The fact that you literally just said that you voted against clinton based on a lie really does not help your argument that people were not swayed by lies.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 31 2017, @11:53PM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday March 31 2017, @11:53PM (#487382) Journal

      She said "half of trump's supporters," meaning at most a smidge under 25% of the adult population. And if anything, this election and its aftermath have proven that her estimate is probably too low, not too high. Now getcher ass back in th' basket.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...