If there was any doubt that Mike Pence was simply lying about his ignorance of Michael Flynn’s work for foreign governments, here’s a final nail for that coffin. On November 18, less than two weeks after the election, Representative Elijah Cummings sent a letter to Mike Pence as the head of Donald Trump’s transition team.
Dear Vice-President-Elect
I am writing to raise questions about the apparent conflicts of interest of the Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Transition Team, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who reportedly has been selected by the President-elect to be National Security Advisor.
What’s first up on Rep. Cummings’ list of potential conflicts?
Recent news reports have revealed that Lt. Gen. Flynn was receiving classified briefing during the presidential campaign while his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc., was being paid to lobby the US government on behalf of a foreign government’s interests.
Cummings’ detailed, footnoted, carefully annotated letter lays out step by step Flynn’s lobbying for the Turkish government—the exact information that Mike Pence would claim he didn’t know.
Vice President Pence is standing by his claims that he did not know former national security adviser Michael Flynn had been secretly lobbying for the Turkish government until March, despite a new report claiming Flynn had actually disclosed to the Trump transition team back in January that he was under a federal investigation.
Mike Pence was told by Flynn in January. He was told by Cummings in November. As Mike Pence plans for the day when he gets to take the big chair, he should remember—Agnew went first.
Among other things Cummings’ letter to Pence points out is an editorial that Michael Flynn wrote in support of the Turkish government that ran on November 8—the day of the US election. That editorial not only advocates for changes in US foreign policy in support of Turkey, it specifically charges a Muslim cleric who happens to be a political opponent of Turkish strongman Erdoğan with being a terrorist mastermind. It’s not just a pro-Turkey article, it’s a pro-Erdoğan hit piece.
Representative Cummings shows that Flynn is not just a security risk to the nation, but even shows that he violated his promises to the Trump campaign. It’s a step by step, detail by detail, impossible to dismiss indictment of Flynn, one that Pence cannot pretend to have missed or misunderstood.
But he can keep lying. Which seems to be his pattern.