BREAKING (sort of): We already knew from major-media reporting that Flynn was in contact with Kislyak *during* the campaign. That reporting is discussed in my book Proof of Collusion. That said, I'm sure half of Washington will act like we're learning this now for the first time.
2/ The important thing to add here is a date—August 17, 2016. On that date Flynn's legal obligation not to negotiate a unilateral end to sanctions with Russia—lest he be charged with aiding and abetting computer crimes—began (because he went to Trump's first classified briefing).
3/ To my recollection, I've never tweeted at Mike Flynn. Certainly never bugged him in any way. And yet he blocked me on Twitter once I started tweeting about what he was up to during the 2016 presidential campaign. More and more, that blocking looks like consciousness of guilt.
4/ To be clear—a) Corn is one of my favorite journalists, b) he substantially advances the Flynn story here, and c) he quickly acknowledges the prior reporting by The Washington Post that Flynn and Kislyak spoke pre-election. I just wanted to underscore what's new and what isn't.
5/ The "grand bargain" is real; it was negotiated pre-election among five nation-states; and it gave Trump his election victory.
Every single day, additional pieces of this massive and historically harrowing puzzle materialize.
Every single day, additional pieces of this massive and historically harrowing puzzle materialize.
6/ This is it(!)—what I've been writing about for months. Notice that Corn uses the word "incentive," which would be termed "inducement" by attorneys, which is why James Comey *multiple times* spoke of "aiding and abetting" (which prohibits inducement of a crime) before Congress.
7/ One of my projects here has been to chronicle the *long string of negotiating meetings* Trump's campaign had with Kremlin agents on the subject of sanctions. Sessions' involvement in at least two such meetings is one reason I've said he must either cooperate or face liability.
