Michael Flynn, the short-tenured national security advisor for President Trump, is offering to testify to both the FBI and the congressional intelligence committees about possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia in exchange for immunity. The Wall Street Journal had the scoop Thursday night, and it’s a big one.
It’s impossible to conclude anything concrete from Flynn’s offer, but the news suggests the retired lieutenant general—who was also a top advisor for Trump’s campaign—believes he has information of value about the investigations into Russian interference in last year’s election.
Flynn developed close ties to the Russian regime after leaving the military and has praised Vladimir Putin. And his misleading of Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition precipitated Flynn’s resignation earlier this year.
Oliver North Redux?
What does Flynn’s public offer to testify mean? Alex Whiting, a Harvard law professor and national security law expert, makes a convincing case that Flynn is attempting to “bait” one of the congressional committees, not federal prosecutors, into getting him to testify:
Whiting concludes the gambit wouldn’t work and wonders if Flynn’s lawyer knows his client doesn’t have much to offer prosecutors and may be looking for a way to avoid charges himself.
Nunes In Trouble and Questions for the White House
Meanwhile, the plot thickens regarding House Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes’s investigation into potential improper identification of Trump campaign and transition associates in foreign intelligence reports. Three of Nunes’s sources for that intelligence have been revealed as members of the White House staff, despite the Republican congressman’s previous assertion that his source was not a White House staffer.
The New York Times broke the news Thursday that Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a National Security Council staffer, and White House lawyer Michael Ellis were involved in finding and getting the reports to Nunes. The Washington Post, later on Thursday, reported Ellis’s boss and the White House’s top national security lawyer, John Eisenberg, was also aware of the reports before Nunes viewed them in a secured location on the White House grounds last week.
Here’s a big unanswered question for the White House, which has been silent on this since Sean Spicer’s Thursday afternoon press briefing: Did Cohen-Watnick, Ellis, and Eisenberg alert their direct superiors (National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and White House Counsel Don McGahn) about the existence of the explosive documents before Nunes had seen them? If not, then these staffers broke the chain of command, and perhaps they’ll be fired soon.
If McMaster or McGahn, or any other senior White House official, was made aware of the reports but allowed Nunes to get tipped off anyway, then there are additional questions the administration will have to answer—about separation of powers and a whole lot more.
Reince’s Right Hand Leaves the White House
In normal circumstances, the abrupt departure of a high-ranking White House official might be the biggest story for an administration. In the Trump era, it’d be easy to miss on a day like Thursday. Deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh is out, leaving the White House to work for a pro-Trump outside group called America First Policies.
The Washington Post reports that Walsh “leaves with the blessings of Trump’s top advisors.” But Post reporter Philip Rucker also says the former Republican National Committee staffer was viewed with hostility among some in the White House and was considered a “leaky vessel.”
So was Walsh fired or asked to resign? It’s not clear, but her departure can’t have chief of staff Reince Priebus, under whom Walsh worked at the RNC and who was his right hand within the West Wing, feeling confident.
Song of the Day
“Don’t You (Forget About Me),” Simple Minds.
