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Much has been said about what went ‘unsaid’ in the Sentencing Recommendations for Michael Flynn.
But a few have also focused instead on a few key phrases in this public court filing, that were left conveniently unredacted.
Phrases that should signal Trouble (with a capital T) for those that broke the law, during the Trump Transition, and beyond.
First The Guardian has focused on this key phrase: “covert law enforcement activities”.
Was Michael Flynn asked to wear a wire in Mueller hunt for evidence on Russia?
theguardian.com
[...]
Section eight of the deal reached by Donald Trump’s former national security adviser in the inquiry into Russian meddling in the US election is entitled “cooperation”. It specifies that as well as answering questions and submitting to government-administered polygraph tests, Flynn’s cooperation “may include … participating in covert law enforcement activities”.
Long-time students of federal law enforcement practices agreed, speaking anonymously, that “covert law enforcement activities” likely refers to the possibility of wearing a concealed wire or recording telephone conversations with other potential suspects. [...]
“The one who must be particularly terrified is [Trump son-in-law and adviser] Jared Kushner, if he spoke to the special counsel’s office without immunity about the very matter that is the subject of Flynn’s plea. I think he must be paralyzed if he talked to Flynn before or after the investigators debriefed him.”
[ Mark Sumner has noted the implications of this understated legal line as well:
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Second Jeffrey Toobin of CNN has keyed-in on another rather ominous phrase. It should sound alarm bells for anyone that ignored Laws — any Laws — in their rush to get Trump and his co-opted agenda installed into office.
CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin Warns Trump Of 1 Very Ominous Line In The New Mueller Memo
huffingtonpost.com
But Jeffrey Toobin told Anderson Cooper one uncensored line should worry the White House.
The document said Flynn’s “record of military and public service distinguish him from every other person who has been charged” in the investigation, but added that “senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards.”
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“I don’t think that is just filler material,” Toobin said. “I think that is a statement of how Mueller is going to approach the remainder of his investigation as he starts thinking about the people in the White House.”
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Of course if the “best scoff-laws” Trump could find, actually cared about the ‘highest of standards’, the nation wouldn’t be in this compromised mess, in the first place.
But asked directly whether he believed that assessment, Trump was noncommittal.
"I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump said. "Dan Coats [the director of national intelligence] came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be."
If only the American Intel service had the capacity and the go-ahead to have recorded, what else Putin and Trump “agreed to” in that ‘Surrender Summit’ early this year.
The fact-based mind reels.
As so should the Trump scoff-laws’ lie-reflexes, as the reality of what they really face in the Trump-Russia Investigation, slowly and finally sinks in.
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Here’s to hoping that the Blue Wave, The Resistance, and the Special Counsel will ultimately prove that in America still …
No One should be Above the Law.
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