Mueller’s investigation serious

BOOM!!! This is the reverberating explosion from the “Flynn shoe” dropping. Robert Mueller is clearly has his gaze focused straight at President Trump. We are now swimming in the same uncharted waters as when Richard Nixon was desperately clinging to his presidency. Seriously.

When the Manafort Indictment and Papadopolous Guilty Plea were revealed, it was clear that Michael Flynn was next in the congo line. This left him with two clear choices: the Manafort Path, which looked bleak; or the Papadopolous Path, which promised some daylight.

Paul Manafort is in a world of hurt. It is hard to see how, after having been indicted, he can talk himself out of a prison “death sentence.” The charges against him are that serious and numerous. Also, without a guilty plea accompanying the indictment, he appears to have turned down any offer of leniency in exchange for cooperation. Now, even if he changes his mind, its hard to envision him having much left of his former life to salvage.

George Papadopolous, on the other hand, has but a single count of lying to the FBI to concern himself with, a five-year maximum prison sentence, and a strong likelihood of straight probation as a sentence. Granted, his involvement with anything being investigated might have been fairly limited. Still, while his guilty plea means he will walk thorough life as a convicted felon, it appears he will be able to eventually put his “Trump experience” in the rear-view mirror. He was, however, the first firm link in establishing an “on the record” connection between the Trump team and the Russians.

Faced with this choice, Michael Flynn chose to be the second one. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI on Jan. 24, 2017, about having had discussions with the Russians about the Obama sanctions, which were announced on Dec. 28, 2016, by President Obama because of Russian interference with our election. The same day, Mr. Flynn had started opening up channels with Russian authorities to try and convince Putin to remain quiet until after Mr. Trump was inaugurated and they could be lifted. Legally, this may or may not have been a problem (unless it was payback for the Hillary Clinton email dump from last summer).

Clearly, the Justice Department had intercepted the phone conversations between Mr. Flynn and the Russians. Two days later (Jan. 26), the Acting Attorney General Sally Yates walked up to the White House to warn the president that Mr. Flynn was “compromised” by the Russians. The very next day, President Trump supposedly has the infamous “loyalty” meeting with FBI Director James Comey — the first tendril of possible obstruction. President Trump subsequently fires Ms. Yates and, a few weeks later, he either fires Mr. Flynn or accepts his resignation. After this, he fires Mr. Comey after supposedly asking him to end the Russian investigation. More tendrils curling around the Trump Presidency.

Mr. Flynn’s guilty plea means that he has already sung as to other potential targets higher up in the Trump Campaign. He has already been “debriefed” by FBI agents and/or his attorneys have made a “proffer” of what he knows and would testify; this the Mr. Mueller’s team deemed worthy of a sweet plea deal. Let’s be clear here, even from the signed “Statement of Offense” itself, we know that Mr. Flynn must have known something pretty damning against important figures. In addition to lying to the FBI, Mr. Flynn swore that he had played footsie with the Turkish government during the campaign — involving the fundamentals of a conspiracy. The plea agreement letter he signed does not seem to insulate him from legal protection from prosecution for these additional acts — the information in which he entered his guilty plea only charges him with lying about the Russians. The single count of lying to the FBI was a “gift.”

On Monday, people in the Trump orbit were probably trying to figure out, if they need to place a lifeline call to Mr. Mueller. K.T. McFarland might want to because of an email she wrote involving about Mr. Flynn talking with the Russians sanctions. She was also possibly a point of contact for Mr. Flynn when he was talking to the Russians. Jeff Sessions kept making sworn statements before the Senate and/or FBI, could he be in trouble because of Mr. Flynn’s plea agreement.

Jared Kushner might be squirming the most.He is rumored to be the “very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team” who Mr. Flynn says instructed him to open up a channel with the Russians about a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel for expanded settlements on the West Bank. If Mr. Kushner lied about this to the FBI, he could be the next head to roll. He looks to be in boiling water on all sides, as Mr. Manafort and Mr. Papadopolous have reason to implicate him, too.

All of this seems to be

taking us up to the front door of the White House. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, the time line above, suggests that President Trump was furiously trying to protect Mr. Flynn from criminal prosecution by firing Ms. Yates and Mr. Comey. This alone could make out a case of Obstruction. Second, in the wake of Mr. Flynn’s plea agreement, Mr. Trump tweeted that the reason he fired Mr. Flynn (ignoring the fact that he had actually resigned) is because of lying to Vice President Pence AND lying to the FBI. If this is true, that Mr. Flynn was fired because of lying to the FBI, Mr. Trump could only have known of this from Mr. Flynn BEFORE Ms. Yates and Mr. Comey were fired.

Finally, Mr. Mueller’s team seems on a deliberate path to proving the president is involved. This started with flipping Mr. Papapodopolous. Now, having moved on to Mr. Flynn, the only conceivable reason he was allowed to plead guilty was if he was offering up someone closer to the president about either obstruction or the possibility of collusion suggested by Mr. Papadopolous factual account. The noose is tightening and faster than expected.

Local attorney Jim Rockefeller owns the Rockefeller Law Center and is a former Houston County Chief Assistant District Attorney, and a former Miami Prosecutor. Visit www.rockefellerlawcenter.com to submit confidential legal questions, and to review former articles and Frequently Asked Questions.

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