Josh Marshall's "The Gravity is Strong #3".

[randome]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-gravity-is-strong-3

Mike Flynn's offer to testify in exchange for immunity and the apparent lack of anyone willing to take him up on his offer raises more questions than it answers. In fact, I'm not sure it answers any questions at all. There are various relatively minor offenses Flynn could plausibly be prosecuted for - failure to file under FARA for his lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government, failure to file proper paperwork with the Pentagon for his paid speech in Russia, possibly untruthful answers to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. These charges in themselves would be thin gruel in terms of matters of any true public concern. But any competent lawyer would still insist on immunity before letting his client testify on anything related to these possible bad acts. Flynn's lawyer states rather grandly that his client "has a story to tell and ... very much wants to tell it." But Alex Whiting of Harvard Law School argues pretty convincingly that what we learned last night likely means either that Flynn doesn't have a story prosecutors are willing to barter for or isn't yet willing to tell it.

So who knows what the immunity request means? Far more interesting to me is how Flynn ties in to the latest revelation in the unfolding Nunes debacle.

====================

But Bart Gellman, who has a very granular understanding of the modalities and rules tied to handling this kind of material, suggests an additional possibility: that Cohen-Watnick et al. had this material because they were using their privileged access to the nation's top secrets to keep tabs on the FBI's investigation of Trump and his top associates. Yes, read that last sentence again, I'll wait.

This just keeps getting bigger and deeper with every passing day.
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[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Everyone here should read and rec this. Critically important.

Thanks for posting- I was just on my way to do so and was pleased to see you beat me to it.

[randome]

3. All Josh Marshall's articles are spot-on. I wish he'd have better proof-readers, though.

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[NRaleighLiberal]

6. Yes - I suspect some of his stuff is done in the heat of the moment....so a bit raw

but I think that when this thing has finally all broken open, it will be Josh who will be known as one of the leading people to document this historic fuck up.

[randome]

7. Definitely. I shouldn't quibble about the occasional misspelling or whatnot.

But I do.
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[Hortensis]

21. Good article. I strongly wondered if Flynn might

still be a long way from being anxious to save his own skin by telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Certainly, no one's leaping at his offer to present what could just be something closer to an Oliver North redux.

Trumpsters could use a good hero about now, and Flynn could use a job...

[Cha]

2. Thank you, randome

[longship]

4. Mandatory click-through!

Josh really nails this one.

Lots of questions need to be asked.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. Yes, worth a click-through & read. More material at the link. . . nt

[gademocrat7]

5. Wow

When is the dam going to break wide open?

[GliderGuider]

8. He makes a good point at the end

Given how little meat there is out in public view yet, it's tempting to get involved in chasing minutiae - and in so doing, lose the thread of the larger story-line.

[DDySiegs]

9. Obstruction of Justice

Quoting from above:"Cohen-Watnick et al. had this material because they were using their privileged access to the nation's top secrets to keep tabs on the FBI's investigation of Trump and his top associates. Yes, read that last sentence again, I'll wait."

If they were doing this at the behest someone else (like Trump, for example), it would look like obstruction of justice and conspiracy.

[randome]

10. And remember, as Josh points out, McMaster tried to get rid of Cohen-Watnick.

He knew the guy was trouble from the get-go but Dolt45 insisted he stay on. Now we know why. Conspiracy is right!
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[Javaman]

11. frankly, i think flynn is wanting to get immunity as fast as he can...

before more stuff comes out connecting him to other shit.

when fishing, it's better to play out the line when you get a nibble and avoid the want to reel in.

[dgibby]

12. Maybe Flynn's trying to

get immunity before Cohen-Watnick rolls on him. No honor among thieves.

[Javaman]

17. very good point. nt

[secondwind]

13. holy crap! K&R

[zentrum]

14. Agree with Marshall

Flynn's big drama is an attempt to cover up the deeper more serious material.

The Committees and the FBI will have to be see the offer for what it really is and find a way to force him to tell the actually important story.

[Akamai]

15. Well -- he is willing to piss off the president. Almost certainly has something to hide.

[randome]

16. But no one's taking him up on it yet. Maybe all he has is "Trump said to do this."

That's not enough to get immunity.
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[ananda]

18. Whoa!

It's very possible that "Cohen-Watnick et al. had this material because they were using their privileged access to the nation's top secrets to keep tabs on the FBI's investigation of Trump and his top associates. Yes, read that last sentence again"

How on earth did our national security get so compromised so fast?

[randome]

20. I think just about every possible scenario was planned for except one: Trump.

No one thought to conceive of a plan to protect us against vulgar, stupid people gaining the Presidency.
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[Wounded Bear]

19. K & R ......

Keep digging. Keep digging.

[SunSeeker]

22. In other words, the only story Flynn has to tell is what the FBI already knows. FUCK FLYNN. nt

[SJMULE]

23. Barton Gellman's Piece on the issue

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/trump-white-house-spying-fbi/