Courtesy of CNN:First on CNN: Russian officials bragged they could use Michael Flynn to influence Donald Trump, sources say https://t.co/xZKpbwDxMU— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 20, 2017
Russian officials bragged in conversations during the presidential campaign that they had cultivated a strong relationship with former Trump adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn and believed they could use him to influence Donald Trump and his team, sources told CNN.
The conversations deeply concerned US intelligence officials, some of whom acted on their own to limit how much sensitive information they shared with Flynn, who was tapped to become Trump's national security adviser, current and former governments officials said.
"This was a five-alarm fire from early on," one former Obama administration official said, "the way the Russians were talking about him." Another former administration official said Flynn was viewed as a potential national security problem.
The conversations picked up by US intelligence officials indicated the Russians regarded Flynn as an ally, sources said. That relationship developed throughout 2016, months before Flynn was caught on an intercepted call in December speaking with Russia's ambassador in Washington, Sergey Kislyak. That call, and Flynn's changing story about it, ultimately led to his firing as Trump's first national security adviser.
And remember this is the guy that Trump wants BACK in his administration once the investigations are over.
And while we are on the topic of those being controlled by Russia there this story from the New York Times:
The F.B.I. warned a Republican congressman in 2012 that Russian spies were trying to recruit him, officials said, an example of how aggressively Russian agents have tried to influence Washington politics.
The congressman, Dana Rohrabacher of California, has been known for years as one of Moscow’s biggest defenders in Washington and as a vocal opponent of American economic sanctions against Russia. He claims to have lost a drunken arm-wrestling match with the current Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, in the 1990s. He is one of President Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill.
You know it doesn't sound to be as if the Russians "tried" to recruit Rohrbacher, it sounds like they DID recruit Rohrbacher.
You know my new go to position on Trump's most aggressive supporters is that they are Russian double agents.
That may not be true in every case, but it just feels that it is true in MOST cases. And it just saves a lot of time and effort trying to figure out who could continue to support Trump after everything that we have learned.
Source http://ift.tt/2qCb2Ad
