Trump’s No Obstruction Claim Disputed by Voicemail Recording
President Donald Trump is spinning like a top in the wake of disclosures via court documents on Thursday challenging the “no obstruction” narrative. There were ten panicky tweets this morning.
Worst of all, there are recordings.
The day when Alexander Butterfield, deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon, told Congress about the existence of tapes documenting conversations in the White House was the beginning of the end of the Watergate scandal.
This time around, two revelations come via Judge Emmet Sullivan, who ordered the government to provide the public transcripts of a November 2017 voicemail from a call made by lawyer for the president regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn and a phone call regarding sanctions with a Russian ambassador in late 2016.
In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the weeks before Trump took office. special counsel Robert Mueller's office told the court at the time that Flynn should receive little to no jail time due to his "substantial assistance" in the special counsel's investigation.
From the Guardian:
When a stone-faced Michael Flynn entered courtroom 24 in the US district court in Washington DC on Tuesday, it looked like a cozy deal arranged with prosecutors – no jail time in exchange for a guilty plea and full cooperation – was already sealed.
But no one was counting on Judge Emmet Sullivan.
While Mueller’s prosecutors had argued Flynn’s decades of military service warranted a lenient sentence for the three-star general even after he had admitted lying to the FBI, it was Sullivan who, gesturing to the American flag beside him, accused Flynn of selling his country out. Minutes later, he ponderously asked the government’s lawyers whether they had ever considered charging Flynn with treason. (No, they later answered.)
Sullivan ultimately delayed sentencing, but not before saying “I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain, for this criminal offense,” he said. Now we know he asked for more information about Flynn’s cooperation.
The judge ordered the government to post the transcripts on a court website by May 31. They will, it’s believed, reveal conversations central to two major avenues of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sullivan also ordered that still-redacted portions of the Mueller report relating to Flynn be given to the court and made public.
Up until now the calls referenced by the court have been disclosed to the public only in fragments in court filings and the Mueller report.
From the Washington Post:
In addition to the transcripts, it also is possible that the judge may release the audio recordings of the conversations. In his Thursday order, Sullivan directed that the government provide a copy of those recordings to him in his chambers, along with any other calls Flynn made to the Russians, so he can review them.
The transcript of the voicemail involves President Trump’s attorney leaving a message for Flynn’s attorney reminding him of the president’s fondness for Flynn. This came at a time Flynn was considering cooperating with federal investigators.
From NBC News:(Emphasis mine)
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn told investigators that people linked to the Trump administration and Congress reached out to him in an effort to interfere in the Russia probe, according to newly-unredacted court papers filed Thursday. The communications could have "affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation," special counsel Robert Mueller wrote in the court filings. Flynn even provided a voicemail recording of one such communication, the court papers say. "In some instances, the (special counsel's office) was unaware of the outreach until being alerted to it by the defendant," Mueller wrote.
Figuring out the Congress part of this deal should be fun. There are so many likely suspects. Rep. Devin Nunes? Senator Lindsey Graham? Or will some staff take the fall?
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If these latest developments weren’t a big deal, the White House would have likely used the “he was just a coffee boy” defense.
https://twitter.com/Yastreblyansky/status/1129399028595286016
Trump was warned by President Obama, as the Washington Post reported two years ago:
President Barack Obama personally warned then-President-elect Donald Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as his national security adviser last fall as Trump began his transition, current and former administration officials said on Monday.
Obama delivered his warning on Nov. 10, two days after the election, when Trump visited the White House and met with Obama in the Oval Office for what both men described at the time as a cordial conversation.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the discussion, which was first reported by NBC News, but played down the seriousness of Obama's warning.
Here’s Marcy Wheeler driving the point home:
Of course he knew. Obama warned Trump against hiring Flynn on November 10, 2016. And it’s no longer just three former Obama officials who say that. According to the Mueller Report, both Hope Hicks and Steve Bannon not only corroborate that Obama warned Trump, but their FBI testimony makes it clear that Trump was really bugged about Obama’s warning.
Acting attorney general Sally Yates warned the Trump administration three times about Flynn, and was rewarded by getting shown the door.
Who else knew? How about the Vice President?
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent Vice President Mike Pence a letter on November 18, 2016 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn's lobbying work.
The Justice Department, it should be remembered, is still casting a long shadow over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with over a dozen ongoing investigations. Those cases, detailed in a heavily redacted appendix to the special counsel’s final report, could spell ongoing legal trouble for the president and his associates.
The President’s answer:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1129343742748569601
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And finally, THIS...
https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1129427232882155520
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