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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Wt...ctr=1512371420The guilty plea entered on Friday by Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has raised critical new questions not only about the relationship between the Trump team and Russian officials – but also whether Flynn and other members of the Trump transition team were improperly lobbying on behalf of Israel. Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI as Trump-Russia inquiry takes critical step
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Among the statements about which Flynn has admitted lying to the FBI is his depiction of a conversation with the then Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, relating to the run-up to the controversial December 2016 UN security council resolution 2334 on Israeli settlement building – which passed after the Obama administration abstained. Israel, it was reported widely at the time, had been lobbying the team of then President-elect Trump in an attempt to derail the vote.
And according to the charge sheet against Flynn one of the false statements he has admitted giving to the FBI, was his denial that he had spoken to Kislyak on 22 December 2016 asking Russia to delay the vote on the UN resolution.
Quick guide Michael Flynn and Russia: what we know so far
One reason that conversation is important – and potentially highly problematic for Trump and his inner circle – is because of comments made to CNN on 23 December the day after Flynn spoke to Kislyak – by an anonymous Israeli official.
That official admitted that Israel – and reportedly the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, himself – had contacted Trump to seek his assistance in killing the resolution.
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The official – in comments that may come back to haunt the White House – said that Israel had “implored the [Obama] White House not to go ahead and told them that if they did, we would have no choice but to reach out to President-elect Trump”.
“We did reach out to the president-elect,” the official added, “and are deeply appreciative that he weighed in, which was not a simple thing to do.”
Trump himself not only spoke out to condemn the resolution ahead of the vote – highly unusual for a president-elect – but his incoming national security adviser Flynn was also lobbying Moscow to act against then US foreign policy.
While the timeline remains circumstantial, it is highly suggestive. At a time when Israel was asking the Trump transition team to intervene to derail the resolution, the question is whether Flynn would have approached Kislyak on his own initiative.
Flynn’s own answer to that question – in his guilty plea – is now on the record, alleging that a senior member of the Trump transition team “directed” him to make contact with Russian officials in December 2016.
And while the identity of that “senior transition official” has not been revealed there have been hints, not least the Wall Street Journal’s report last month that special counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating the attempt by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to block the passage of the resolution 2334 – the same effort that Flynn, it now appears, lied to the FBI about.
What you are discussing is the Logan Act, it's been discussed several times in the last few weeks on here.
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§ 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
1 Stat. 613, January 30, 1799, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004).
So what you are implying is that Flynn broke the same law that Obama is when meeting with foreign leaders as a private citizen and working counter to the policies and objectives of the US government?
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Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake
What you are discussing is the Logan Act, it's been discussed several times in the last few weeks on here.
So what you are implying is that Flynn broke the same law that Obama is when meeting with foreign leaders as a private citizen and working counter to the policies and objectives of the US government?
If Flynn was guilty of lobbying why wasn't he charged with doing it ?
If lobbying was a crime why haven't they arrested the 20,000 of them in D.C. ?
There has been one single conviction for failure to comply with FARA in the past 50+ years. That's with an average of 15 people in DC receiving letters from the DOJ telling them they failed to file and should do so retroactively. It's the DC equivalent of jaywalking. So why did the FBI decide to begin pursuing this law after 50+ years, but only against Trump team members? It's almost as if this was partisan in nature.
If Flynn was guilty of lobbying why wasn't he charged with doing it ?
If lobbying was a crime why haven't they arrested the 20,000 of them in D.C. ?
Just think of all the extra parking spaces in DC if there were no more lobbyists.
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