Question: What’s up with Trump, Flynn, and Turkey?
Spoiler: Authoritarians stick together.
Busy week: I finally read the indictment for Bijan Kian, Flynn’s business partner.
It’s here: documentcloud.org/documents/5631…
Kian is charged with 18 USC § 951 (also conspiracy §371 and false statements §1001, but § 951 is more serious).
Both criminalize working for foreign entities without informing the government.
FARA basically applies to lobbyists working for any foreign organization or company.
§951 carries a stiffer penalty (up to 10 years)
Remember: agent=spy (or, as Lawfare puts it, §951 is Espionage Lite)
Turkey wants Gullen extradited.
The DOJ won't extradite Gullen because there isn’t evidence to warrant it, and obviously he’d be killed.
Flynn was an active player in the scheme: He was copied on key emails, met with Turkish officials in NYC, slapped his name onto an op ed, etc.
What does Trump have to do with all of this?
Bijan Kian was a “Trump transition aide.” cbsnews.com/news/trump-tra…
Flynn, of course, was Trump's national security advisor.
After Flynn’s hearing (when the judge rebuked Flynn's claim of FBI misconduct) the WH stuck to the story: "The FBI broke standard protocol in the way that they came in and ambushed General Flynn.” apnews.com/e783d26dc4a805…
Of course, that wouldn’t bother Trump: vox.com/policy-and-pol…
And recall👇 cnn.com/2017/06/07/pol…
apnews.com/ec2ed217357048…
People like to say that Trump does what authoritarian regimes want him to do because they have compromising material on him.
A lifetime of befriending, doing business with & laundering money for authoritarians created lots of compromising material.
Trump works with dictators because he likes them. That came first.
Trump fawns over authoritarians, hires and surrounds himself with agents of authoritarian governments, but he retains 42% approval according to 538 aggregate of polling (the aggregate I most trust): projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval…
This is not to say that 42% of Americans are authoritarian. Some of the 42% don’t understand what they’re supporting, some are single issue voters, etc.
But a lot of them are👇
FDR won the presidency in 1944 with only 53% of the vote, and that was after giving us social security, minimum wage, etc, and. . .
behindthescenes.nyhistory.org/happy-132nd-bi…
I see frantic tweets like “we can’t keep this madman in office for 2 years! We have to get him out sooner!”
Deep breath.
If you think the Senate will take out Trump and Pence and make Pelosi president, consider Nixon and Agnew.
So don't wear yourself out with the constant spectacle and crisis, get involved in local politics, protest peacefully, and start planning for the 2020 election.