A lot of people are talking today about Michael Flynn's pardon, since @emptywheel asked if Trump's recent disavowal of Sidney Powell was because of a pardon quid pro quo. Just to remind, the quid pro quo is WRITTEN: pardon Flynn for help "base rallying" 1/
emptywheel.net/2023/10/22/don…
Soon after the election, as Stop the Steal efforts were spinning up, Ed Martin sent a series of text messages to speechwriter Vince Haley, suggesting Flynn would promote election denial if pardoned. Nov 7: "Please push Flynn pardon. We need him for the base rallying". 2/
Ed Martin was actually pitching to Newt Gingrich, Haley's old boss, not to Trump. On Nov 10, as the Nov 14 DC rally was approaching, Martin got urgent: "A POTUS pardon Thursday or Friday. He'd come to D.C. for the rally march. Please float it to Newt. We need that guy loosed". 3/
Flynn got no pardon before November 14, and didn't show up in DC, though his brother Joe came. Flynn started helping only after his Nov 25 pardon. On Dec. 12, pardon in hand, he was ubiquitous, speaking at 3 separate rallies: "base rallying." 4/
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It seems clear that Flynn agreed to help promote election denial in exchange for a pardon. It is a harder question whether his help went beyond speeches. On Dec. 18 he floated a plan that was rejected. On Jan 6 he sat in the audience at the Ellipse even while the attack began. 5/
There is no clear connection between Flynn and the violence at the Capitol. Someone had to organize, but there are other candidates too for that. (Those pros and cons require a longer thread.) But it's very clear that Flynn cut a deal for at minimum delivering speeches. 6/
The hottest take from the Flynn pardon story is that Ed Martin thought the best way to get him one was to ask Newt Gingrich. Newt was seen as the pardon broker!
The Vince Haley texts are at link below, & here's their context in the Big Timeline. 7/
govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GP…
Flynn's deal on the pardon was widely assumed. Annie Howell, a relatively minor helper with election fraud claims, says that Flynn "was kind of absent..until he received that pardon.. and then he had a heavy influence..after that". Quid pro quo. 8/
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Here's Trump's post that set off all the discussion: "MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY... she would have been conflicted. Ms. Powell did a valiant job of representing...General Michael Flynn...an innocent man...like many other innocent people who are now being persecuted..." 9/
If anyone wonders who Ed Martin is, who pitched Flynn's pardon: he's head of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles and an "old friend" of Speaker candidate Pete Sessions. The day before the Capitol attack, Martin & Sessions posed together with a Stop the Steal sign. Jan 6 is not over. 10/
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