Thread by @petestrzok

Take a moment to think about the staggering counterintelligence issues in the crazy Dec 18, 2020 WH meeting. A thread.

In the Oval Office, people advocated Trump illegitimately hold on to power, including using the military to seize voting machines.

That group included: (/1)

Mike Flynn, who who was paid by an organ of Russian state media to travel to Moscow to attend a dinner where he was seated next to Putin.

Flynn later plead guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador about election interference. (/2)

Patrick Byrne, one of several men once in an intimate relationship with convicted Russian agent Marina Butina.

Byrne gave money to Butina after her return to Russia, where she ran for the Duma, hounded Navalny, and supported the invasion of Ukraine. (/3)

businessinsider.com/pro-trump-form…

Rudy Giuliani, who repeatedly met with and took info from sanctioned Russian agents like Andrii Derkach, despite USIC warnings to the White House in 2019 that Trump’s personal lawyer “was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence” (/4)

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

So in this tiny meeting in the Oval Office where options to upend US democracy were advanced to the President of the United States, there were not one, not two, but three people directly linked to sanctioned and convicted agents of the Russian government. (/5)

While I doubt Russia planned it, their efforts to gain access to Trump’s inner sanctum succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

And it demonstrates just how successful seemingly amateurish intelligence activity can be. (6/end)