President Trump on Wednesday pardoned Lt. General Michael Flynn. The same day, Joe Biden of the unofficial “Office of the President Elect” delivered a Thanksgiving address. These events are related more than Americans might think.
Back on January 17, 2017, days before the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, then-Vice President Biden made a request to “unmask” Flynn, Trump’s pick for his national security advisor. At a time when masks are mandatory gear, that invites explanation.
U.S. intelligence surveils foreign nationals in the United States, and they often come into contact with Americans. Since citizens are not the object of the surveillance, their identities are masked. In 2016 and 2017, the outgoing administration went to great lengths to unmask Flynn, a hardliner on Islamic terrorism and a harsh critic of 2016 loser Hillary Clinton.
According to revelations from former interim Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power made unmasking requests for Flynn on November 30, 2016, and then on December 2, 7, and 14, and again on January 11, 2017. On December 14 and 15, 2016, CIA boss John Brennan made unmasking requests for Flynn.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper put in requests on December 12, 28, and again on January 7, 2017. FBI Director James Comey requested to unmask Flynn on December 15, 2016, and again on January 12, 2017. Five days later, Biden made his unmasking request, but there was more to it. The outgoing vice president also wanted to use the Logan Act of 1799 to keep open an investigation of Flynn, a key target of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane and Crossfire Razor operations. Those operations, in turn, were part of a broader back story.
Barack Obama was the first president to deploy the upper reaches of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and intelligence communities to clear his chosen successor Hillary Clinton—beneficiary of the FBI’s Midyear Exam operation—and attack candidate and then President Trump. Trump’s victory stunned the Democrats, who blamed it on collusion with Russia. This played well with those who believe that if a progressive candidate loses an election, the loss can only be due to right-wing trickery. In reality, it was pure disinformation.
In his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Flynn was only doing his job. As the general explained, “We will not achieve stability in the Middle East without working with each other against this radical Islamist crowd. Period.” Kislyak agreed and Flynn told him, “You are not talking to a diplomat. You are talking to a soldier. I am a very practical guy. It is all about solutions.” FBI boss Comey, who had publicly cleared Hillary Clinton from prosecution, knew Flynn had done nothing wrong but sent agents to entrap him anyway.
“What is our goal?” read one agent’s notes. “Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and his case landed with Judge Emmet Sullivan, who maintained the case even after the Justice Department moved to drop it. As this played out, U.S. Attorney John Durham, allegedly a man of great integrity, failed to bring any charges against key FBI players James Comey and Peter Strzok, who have both authored self-serving books.
The vaunted FBI has become an American KGB as Russian comic Yakof Smirnoff may help to illustrate. In 1981, Smirnoff addressed the outrage over “Fort Apache the Bronx,” in which cops throw a suspect off a roof. “This is nothing,” Smirnoff said. “In Russia, KGB throw guy off roof to hit guy they really want.” In similar style, the Democrat coup clan threw Flynn off the roof but the guy they really wanted to take out was Donald Trump.
A marathon investigation by Robert Mueller and a squad of partisan Democrats revealed no collusion. Then came the Ukraine hoax and impeachment bid, but Trump prevailed and has now pardoned Flynn. In his response, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) charged that the foreign entanglements of Hunter Biden were part of a Russian disinformation campaign. So the hoax lives on.
Joe Biden, who unmasked the general, has been bragging that “we have put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.” If embattled Americans saw that massive voter fraud as part of the ongoing coup against Trump it would be hard to blame them. If the coup succeeds, Trump voters could become the primary target, and many Americans could get thrown off the roof.