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Jill Wine-Banks, a former Watergate prosecutor, was on The Maddow Show tonight. She said that the “senior official of the Presidential Transition Team” mentioned in the Flynn’s Plea agreement, could be anybody — from the President, to Kushner, to even Vice President Pence. They were all involved directing the Transition Team, and Pence was the Head of the Transition Team afterall.
But what is clear from Plea agreement was, Flynn was no rogue actor. Flynn was actively taking directions from the Transition Team, and getting their direction and their “Go ahead” — before seeking the conclusion to very unusual pre-presidential Diplomatic Arrangement, with Russia’s Sergey Kislyak … (Can anyone look-up the Logan Act?)
by David A. Graham , The Atlantic — Dec 1, 2017
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Flynn, in contrast, was a top adviser to the president in the White House before he was fired in mid-February, for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Kislyak. That made his tenure as national-security adviser historically brief. So far, the special counsel has released little information about the charges, but the two-page document indicates that Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak concerned presidential policy. According to the special counsel, Flynn spoke to Kislyak asking him to refrain from responding to new sanctions imposed in the waning days of the Obama administration, and that Flynn asked Kislyak to delay or defeat a UN Security Council vote; he then lied about those conversations with the FBI.
The fact that Flynn was operating on behalf of the incoming government represents the first concrete case of Trump’s presidential staff, rather than his campaign team, covering up contacts with Russia. Prosecutors said in court filings on Friday that Flynn called a “senior official of the Presidential Transition Team” on December 29, after being contacted by Kislyak, and was told that the transition did not want Russia to escalate the situation. Flynn then called Kislyak to request that Russia respond only in a reciprocal manner, which it subsequently did.
Did you notice that last part? Flynn was “told that the transition did not want Russia to escalate the situation.” Only then did Flynn follow through on that directive, once so empowered.
TPM Editor — Dec 1, 2017
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The “senior official” is the one who talked with Flynn about how to handle his discussions with Kislyak about the sanctions. It was the “very senior member” of the transition who specifically told Flynn to contact foreign governments about the Israel resolution at the UN. The language is very specific about the direction. “On or about December 22, 2016, a very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team directed FLYNN to contact officials from foreign governments…”
The ‘very’ in “very senior member” seems like an almost over the top effort to convey just who it was the prosecutors are talking about. It’s hard to see that that is not either Pence or President Trump, though it also strikes me as perhaps a bit too coy to refer to the incoming President as a member of transition team.
However that may be, Flynn clearly kept the President’s team in Mar-A-Lago fully up to date about his conversations with Kislyak, in more or less real time. There were repeated calls with the “senior official” about Kislyak. Critically, after the full round of calls with Kislyak, Flynn “spoke with senior members [note the plural] of the Presidential Transition Team” about his conversations with Kislyak.
Then Mike Pence went on to fumble his interview with Face the Nation, soon after that call:
Pence: But what I can confirm, having spoken to him about it, is that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the United States took action to expel [Russian] diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.
This means Pence did confirm the extra-presidential Flynn call, and the cover story was: “It had nothing to do with Sanctions.” It was only later when the Twitter exchange got too hot, that Flynn had to resign, under the pretext of lying to Pence.
What was that lie again: Was it about the extended Diplomatic call itself, or was it about the Sanctions-lifting deal — that Pence said never really happened?
Why the Flynn Guilty Plea Is Bad News for Pence—and Other Senior Trump Officials
Top transition officials knew Pence’s claims were false.
by Dan Friedman, Hannah Levintova and David Corn, Mother Jones — Dec. 1, 2017
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According to the document, Flynn was first contacted by Kislyak about the sanctions on December 28, 2016. The next day, Flynn called “a senior official of the Presidential Transition Team” who was with other high-level Trump officials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. On the call, Flynn and this senior Trump official talked about what he should tell Kislyak. Flynn and the Trump official “discussed that members of the Presidential Transition Team at Mar-a-Lago did not want Russia to escalate the situation.” Flynn immediately called Kislyak and “requested that Russia not escalate the situation” and instead respond reciprocally. Flynn then called the senior transition official back to summarize his conversation with Kislyak.
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This means that Flynn’s interactions with Kislyak were not freelance activities and that the top echelon of the Trump transition team was fully aware of these communications. The statement of offense does not name the senior Trump aides whom Flynn communicated with about this matter. (It’s possible that Trump or Pence was part of this group.) But it does indicate that top-ranking Trump officials knew that Pence’s statement on Face the Nation was false. And yet the White House allowed it to stand until news reports disclosed the true content of these communications between Flynn and Kislyak.
Mueller’s statement puts Pence on the hot seat. Was he really unaware of what “senior members” of the transition team were told about Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak? After all, at that time, Pence was the head of the transition team. A spokeswoman for Pence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Was Mike Pence the “Head of the Transition Team” or not?
Was Mike Pence in on the Kislyak-Arrangement, that his Team approved, or not?
Was Mike Pence one of the Players, or being “played”, when it came to getting this “seasons greetings” message for the Trump Team accomplished? (as one of his first “presidential acts” ...)
Unfortunately for the VP, “The Trump Transition Team was led by Vice President-elect Mike Pence.”
Man it’s starting to get hot, in that Trump Team kitchen ...