Criminal tRump

[Baxter]

Last Wednesday, Donald Trump came through with the long-expected pardon
of former national security adviser, and would-be kidnapper, Michael
Flynn. That Trump would pardon someone whose crime was directly
protective of his own actions in coordinating with Russia during the 2016
campaign was a huge middle finger to justice, and a challenge to the
whole concept of what limits should fall on executive pardons.

But now that the actual pardon to Flynn has been revealed, that middle
finger has been super-sized. Because Trump didn’t just absolve Flynn of
the crime he confessed to in court (twice). Trump has written Flynn a
pardon for the ages, a pardon for everything he did, even if it was not
the subject of any legal action. It’s no longer possible to say that no
man is above the law, because Trump has picked Flynn up and made him
immune to any legal action.

On Monday evening, the Department of Justice formally moved for dismissal
of the case against Flynn. In doing so, they released the full text of
the pardon from Trump. And it’s astounding.

Trump provides to Flynn, “A full and unconditional pardon … for any and
all possible offenses arising from the facts set forth ... or that might
arise, or be charged, claimed or asserted" based on any information
uncovered by the FBI in investigating his crimes, from anything uncovered
by the Mueller investigation, or from anything that was placed before any
grand jury. It’s a pardon that says Flynn isn’t just free from his
repeated lies to the FBI, but isn’t subject to prosecution for anything
he may have done, no matter how serious.

And what Flynn did was definitely serious. From the very beginning,
Flynn’s deal with the FBI was ridiculously good. After all, in addition
to secretly consulting with the Russian ambassador prior to taking
office, and making promises to Russian officials that undercut U.S.
policy, Flynn repeatedly violated the rules against acting as an
unregistered foreign agent in his dealings with Turkey. And that really
did include not just openly calling for a U.S. resident to be sent to
Turkey for certain execution, but scheming to make that happen even if it
required an extra-legal kidnapping.

The deal Flynn was given indicated that he had offered to provide key
information on the Trump campaign’s actions related to Russia. Then Flynn
not only welched on that deal, he sat smugly even as a constant stream of
new information made it clear that he had failed in his requirements to
be open with investigators about his actions.

It’s now clear that the entire stream of Flynn’s actions—from dismissing
the attorneys who negotiated for him a miracle deal, to hiring the odious
Sidney Powell, to constant displays of pique in court—were designed for
no purpose other than delay. Those efforts were matched by Bill Barr’s
even more ludicrous moves from the DOJ side, moves that constantly raised
the well-deserved ire of Judge Emmet Sullivan. In retrospect, it’s
obvious that neither Flynn’s takesy-backsy declaration, nor Barr’s
pulling out the rug beneath U.S. attorneys was ever intended to work.

Both were just delaying actions until the election was in the rearview
and Trump was free to give Flynn his “laws, we don’t need no stinkin’
laws” pass.

The extent of that pass also makes it clear that Trump isn’t really
concerned about Michael Flynn’s lies to the FBI. He’s more concerned
about what Flynn might say if he ever really lived up to the terms of his
original deal. It’s obvious that somewhere in the “any and all possible
offenses” are some offenses that involve Trump. Offenses that Trump
still, after four years, does not want anyone to hear.

Flynn getting a blanket pardon for all crimes past and present isn’t a
sign of Trump’s strength, or even his anger over the Mueller
investigation. It underlines that there really were crimes involved, and
the cover-up is still ongoing. This is the real deal that Michael Flynn
made from the beginning.