Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
Flynn wasn't under duress,
he was
he got caught trying to undermine US policy. He's lucky the plea agreement was as generous as it was. He may be wishing he kept it.
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He was not undermining, he was trying to keep Russia from retaliating over aggressively, but instead to make its response "reciprocal" so that we would not be forced to escalate beyond the present expulsions. Also, it is contended that Flynn lied about discussing the financial sanctions levied by Obama against the Russians. But Flynn did not discuss that with Kislyak, his request to keep the Russian response "reciprocal" was in regard to the expulsion of Russian diplomats. Even President Obama noted that sanctions and expulsions were entirely separate issues. Which is why he didn't believe he actually lied, because the discussion was not about the sanctions. "The transcripts show that while Kislyak obliquely raised the issue of financial sanctions against certain Russian intelligence officials, Flynn himself never discussed the financial sanctions against Russian individuals and entities levied by the Obama administration. Instead, Flynn focused on preventing U.S. “tit-for-tat” escalation following the Obama administration’s expulsion of Russian diplomats."
While Flynn initially pleaded guilty to the charges after Mueller’s office threatened to persecute his son, he moved to withdraw his plea in federal court following the emergence of evidence that the FBI’s ambush interview of him without counsel present was an unlawful setup with no legal investigative predicate and that Mueller’s office improperly withheld exculpatory information from him.
The main thing to understand is that prior to being investigated he did nothing for which there was a valid reason to investigate. That's why he was not charged with anything more than the coerced "lie." What he did before that "lie" was perfectly legal. There was no valid reason to investigate him in the first place. And when the FBI determined that and wanted to close the investigation, it was continued under no valid reason until Flynn could be coerced into "lying."