The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming

Oh wait I guess they’ve already arrived.

It would be really funny if it wasn’t so serious. Michael Flynn suddenly remembers that he sorta maybe did indeed talk about sanctions with the Russian ambassador. And then kinda sorta mislead the VP on what was going on. The reason Flynn was asked to resign wasn’t because of what he did but because Trump had lost trust in him.

Not that there was any promises to the Russian on sanctions. Oh not all. The Obama administration announces sanctions against the Russians. The Russians say the will retaliate. Then they decided not to. What happened between those two events Flynn talked to the Russian ambassador. Just a coincidence? Yeah right.

And it seems there have been all sorts of contacts between the Russians and the Trump organization throughout the campaign.

It seems pretty obvious that nothing would have happened unless this had come out in the press:

Yet the situation didn’t come to a head until the public disclosure last week of what Flynn says was his faulty recollection of the call — and specifically, the fact that it included talk about sanctions, which Flynn and Vice President Pence had both denied.

Which leads to the question: Was the White House concerned that Flynn had apparently lied to them — or at least done something he shouldn’t have and failed to disclose it? Would it ever have taken corrective action if the situation hadn’t been made public?

At least some Republicans in the Senate say they will look into exactly what is going on here. Then again there’s Rand Paul who says why bother to investigate people in your own party. The House is even worse where the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is essentially a Trump shill. Chaffetz didn’t see an investigation he didn’t like when it was Democrats or Hillary Clinton in particular. But when it comes to Trump well little or no interest.

This from a column by Jennifer Rubin in the Post:

In response to this farcical dereliction of duty, ranking Democrat Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.) said in a written statement, “Chairman Chaffetz appears to be taking his marching orders directly from President Trump’s tweet yesterday — instead of investigating General Flynn’s lies and his troubling ties with Russia, he chose to target those who brought them to light.” Cummings added: “Congress should be doing independent oversight of the Executive Branch and protecting whistleblowers, not running interference while the White House conceals their abuses and misleads the American people for weeks. Chairman Chaffetz said he didn’t want to go on ‘fishing expeditions’, but that’s exactly what he’s doing here.”

She goes on to say:

In contrast with Senate Republicans, who seem to have perked up and see legitimate grounds for at least investigating Trump’s Russia ties, Chaffetz remains a Trump enabler, blocking essential investigation of raging scandals. So long as the Senate plunges ahead, however, the real damage here is to Chaffetz, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the GOP majority. If the GOP won’t do basic oversight on the biggest scandal to hit the White House in decades, why not put the Democrats in charge?

I have rarely agreed with Rubin (because she is way too conservative for me) but in this case I agree.

It is important to find out just how deep the Russians hooks are in Trump. What exactly Flynn promised to the Russians? And most important did Flynn act all by himself or at the behest of someone.