Irony is dead in the age of the Trump Administration.
For two years, President Donald Trump and his camp of right-wing minions called for Hillary Clinton to be “locked up” for her role in her infamous email scandal despite no actual filing of criminal charges.
The minion most vocal — aside from Trump himself — was General Michael T. Flynn, who served as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Obama.
As of Feb. 13, Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor in shame, plagued in scandal and criminal wrongdoing.
Flynn, a highly decorated and once respectable officer in the United States Army, was thrust into the national spotlight after delivering a bizarre spectacle at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
During his 25-minute tirade, Flynn led chants of “lock her up” to a bloodthirsty crowd.
“If I, a guy who knows his business, did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today,” Flynn said.
Which begs the question: why isn’t Michael Flynn in jail today?
Flynn did more than “a tenth” of what Clinton did. In fact, he broke several federal laws.
On Dec. 29, 2016, less than a month before President Trump took office, Flynn phoned Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions the United States had just placed on Russia over its interference during the presidential campaign.
The topic of conversation — among many — saw Flynn most likely offering a minced reassurance to the Russian government, a violation of the Logan Act, which bars non-governmental citizens from negotiating with a foreign nation on behalf of the United States.
Initially, the White House — including Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump — denied that such a phone call ever happened.
Vice President Mike Pence told CBS that the conversation in question never took place and that even if it had, sanctions were not the topic.
That was a lie.
Subsequent investigations found Flynn did indeed discuss sanctions with the Russian government. What’s even more bizarre is that President Trump knew the whole time and chose not to tell Pence, leaving him in the dark and contradicted by the facts.
According to the Washington Post, acting Attorney General Sally Yates — who Trump fired — warned the president in late January that Flynn had not been truthful about his contacts with Russia and was susceptible to blackmail by Russian intelligence.
So for an entire month, Donald Trump granted security clearance to a guy who may or may not have been being blackmailed by a foreign government. Let that sink in.
At the same time, U.S. counterintelligence agents, the FBI and the United States Army began investigating Flynn.
When investigated by the FBI, Flynn, under oath, told agents he never talked to the ambassador about sanctions. That was a lie. Lying to the FBI while under oath is a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The people who led the “lock her up” chants are now silent, especially given that the FBI is declining to charge Flynn for breaking the law.
Remember, FBI Director James Comey told Congress Hillary Clinton did not lie under oath, but the FBI did say they “believed that Mr. Flynn was not entirely forthcoming.” In layman’s terms: he lied to them.
While the Republicans were trying desperately to pin a crime on Clinton, President Trump let a criminal walk the halls of the White House and hold a position that deals with the national security of the United States.
Lock Michael Flynn up and lock President Trump up for being complacent in a cover-up bigger than the Watergate Scandal.
Should Michael Flynn be forced to testify in front of Congress — which Republicans have indicated he may — there’s no telling how much will be exposed.
The questions on everyone’s minds are: what did Trump know and when did he know it?
Should the answers be dire, impeachment could be imminent. One can only hope.
