Flynn Facts

Flynn Facts

D. S. Mitchell

Flynn Facts

Lt. General Michael Flynn (Retired) was born in 1958, in Middletown, R.I. and served in the U.S. Army for 33 years before being forced out of his intelligence position at the joint operations command.  He had clashes with superiors over his chaotic management style and his vision for the agency. Insiders state, “Flynn got fired because he was abusive to staff, refused to listen, worked against policy and was a poor manager,” per the Huffington Post. Furthermore, Flynn had a reputation for playing fast and loose with the facts. Subordinates referred to his dubious assertions as, “Flynn facts.”

Religious Bigotry

Flynn believes the Muslim religion is the cause of “Islamist terrorism.” He has famously proclaimed Islam “is a political ideology and a cancer.” He tweeted, “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL”. With that tweet he included a link to a video that claimed Islam intends to enslave or exterminate 80% of the world population. He supports return of Betula Gulen to Turkey to face charges of instigating a failed coup against Turkish President Erdogan. Erdogan’s government has moved closer to Russia over the last several years and Flynn has stated he wants to see the United States, “begin to work constructively with Russia.”

Claims Denied

Flynn in an interview stated that he personally had seen directional signs in our southwest desert close to the Mexican border in Arabic, leading Muslims to pathways to illegally enter the U.S.  There was a quick and vehement push back from Border Patrol officials denying there was any validity to Flynn’s claims.

Intelligence Assignments

Flynn’s military career was primarily working with conventional and senior intelligence assignments. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1981 and then an MBA in telecommunications. He was also a graduate of the Military Intelligence Training School.

Post Military

After leaving the Army, he opened Flynn Intel Group. The company mission was to provide intelligence services for business and governments. Notably, on 12/10/2015 Flynn attended a gala dinner in honor of RT (Russia Today) the media arm of the Russian government. Flynn made semi-regular appearances on RT as an analyst after his retirement. Before the gala, Flynn gave a speech that Putin attended.

Likes Chants

Flynn joined the Trump campaign early and was a loud voice in Trump’s negative rhetoric. There had been discussion that Flynn would be the VP running mate. Flynn confirmed that he had provided vetting documents for the position. Trump would later announce Mike Pence would be his running mate. At the 2016 Republican National Convention Flynn gave a fiery speech. He led the crowd in chants of “USA,USA.” At that same event Flynn went on a blistering tirade against Hillary Clinton and rallied the crowd to chants of “Lock her up! Lock her up!” Stating, “If I’d done 1/10th what she did, I’d be in jail today.”

NSA Appointment

After the Trump win, on 11/18/2016 Flynn was offered the position of National Security Advisor, which he accepted. His appointment drew widespread ire. The criticism included, his seeming close relations with Russia, his promotion and polarization of anti-Clinton conspiracy theories, his Muslim fear mongering, and support of fake news stories. Throwing gas on an already explosive fire, Flynn openly met with Heinz-Christian Strache leader of the far right Freedom Party of Austria. The FP was founded in the 1950’s by a group of former Nazis.

Phone Conversations

The time table indicates that on 12/29/16 Flynn spoke to Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. This was the same day the Obama administration added new sanctions to Russia. Phone conversations per FBI briefings point to Flynn and the Trump team arranging a “secret deal” between themselves and the Kremlin. Potentially a violation of the Logan Act. A law which forbids US citizens from negotiating with foreign powers in disputes with the United States.

Sean Spicer Speaks

On 1/13/2017 Sean Spicer refuted the story and said the conversation between Flynn and Kislyak had taken place on 12/28/2016. Which would have been a  day before expanded sanctions were placed on Russia. David Ignatius broke a story that contradicted that story and Spicer was forced to back off on his misstatements.

Yates Warning

The Washington Post reported that acting Attorney General Sally Yates had warned the Trump Administration sometime late in January that Flynn was likely compromised. She said he had lied about his contacts with Russians and that Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail by Russian Intelligence. On 2/01/2017 ranking members of six congressional committees sent a letter to Secretary of Defense, James Mattis asking for an investigation into Flynn and his connection with RT and the Russian government.

Moscow Trip

On 2/08/2017 Flynn in a statement, denied speaking to Kislyak in December about sanctions. On 2/09/2017, US Intel officials shared that the conversations had taken place. The NY Times subsequently reported that the Army, was also investigating Flynn. The Army wanted to know whether General Flynn “received any money from the Russian government during his trip to Moscow in 2015.” According to sources, “there was no record that Flynn has filed the required paperwork for the trip. If he received money without consent of Congress he might have violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.”

Flynn Resigns

On 2/13/2017 Flynn resigned under a cloud of suspicion that he had misled the vice president about his contacts with Russian officials. General Flynn, served a record 24 days as National Security Advisor to the Trump Administration the shortest term on record.

Registration With DOJ

On March 8, 2017 Flynn registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent stating he had received $530,000 worth of lobbying work before election day. The work appears to have been through a Dutch company apparently fronting for the Turkish government. Flynn sat in on classified national security briefings with then candidate Trump, at the same time that he was working for foreign clients. These activities raised ethical concerns and conflict of interest concerns.

An Abduction Plan

On 3/24/2017 former CIA director James Woolsey described a strange meeting that Flynn had taken him to, where Flynn actively participated with Turkish government ministers in devising a plan to abduct Fethullah Gulen an opponent of Flynn’s client President Erdogan. The purpose of which was to avoid going thru normal US legal extradition process. During this time he was actively working for the Trump campaign.

A Story To Tell

On 3/30/2017 General Flynn offered, according to Wall Street Journal story to testify before the FBI or Senate and House Intel Committees in exchange for immunity from prosecution. His lawyer maintains that “Flynn has a story to tell.”

Unreported Income

This weekend new revelations about unreported earnings came to light. Flynn disclosed he received direct payment for services from RT, the Russian media arm of the Russian government. This news is just coming in and I will update as more information comes to the forefront.

Flynn Story

The Flynn story will be an interesting one to follow. I’m just wondering how deep into the Trump camp the Russian corruption will penetrate? Could the collusion reach Trump himself? We’ll just have to wait, and see.

Collusion Rumors

Calamity News and Politics, a left leaning blog, is staying active in the fight, calling out absurdity when we see it. We use every chance to point out injustice. We are watching as the U.S. political news continues to dig at the edges of the Trump campaign collusion rumors, hoping for the tightly controlled story, to split, wide open.

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