In Spite of the Mueller News Hype Regarding Flynn, It's Still a Dud, A Tempest In a Teapot

MUELLER STILL HAS NOTHING ON ANY ELECTION COLLUSION IN THE TRUMP-RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

THIS MUELLER MADNESS MAY BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST BOONDOGGLES OF MY LIFETIME. Try as I might, I simply cannot find one iota of evidence that the Trump campaign did anything wrong. Time will obviously tell, however. Glad other writers/pundits far, far wiser than I have come up with the same conclusion after reading Mueller's complaint against Michael Flynn:

 John Hinderaker at Powerline blog writes:

NEWS MEDIA are breathlessly reporting that Gen. Michael Flynn has agreed to plead guilty to lying to the FBI. You can read the Statement of the Offense here. The false statements alleged by the government seem rather pathetic: 1) Flynn falsely told an FBI agent that he didn’t ask the Russian ambassador to “refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions” the U.S. had just imposed, and 2) that he didn’t recall the ambassador subsequently telling him that the Russians had moderated their response per his request; 3) Flynn falsely said that he didn’t ask the Russian ambassador to delay or defeat a pending U.N. Security Council resolution, and 4) that the ambassador never subsequently described his country’s response to that request. (Flynn tried, unsuccessfully, to convince several members of the Security Council, including Russia, not to proceed with an anti-Israel resolution. This is to his, and President Trump’s, credit.)

That’s it, after a year of huffing and puffing. Nothing about the election, nothing about the long-awaited “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. I have no idea why Flynn apparently lied to an FBI agent, assuming that he did. But the communications described in the information are exactly the sorts of contacts that a national security advisor to an incoming president should be having with foreign powers.

In short, the allegations against Flynn suggest that Robert Mueller has nothing significant against President Trump or other members of his administration. 

The press, of course, is gleeful. ABC‘s headline blares, “Flynn Prepared To Testify Against Trump, Trump Family, White House Staff.” Really? Testify to what?

Here's Mueller's statement of Flynn's offense.

Andrew McCarthy weighs in:

For all the furor, we have a small-potatoes plea in Flynn’s case — just as we did in Papadopoulos’s case, despite extensive “collusion” evidence. Meanwhile, the only major case Mueller has brought, against former Trump-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an associate, has nothing to do with the 2016 election. It is becoming increasingly palpable that, whatever “collusion” means, there was no actionable, conspiratorial complicity by the Trump campaign in the Kremlin’s machinations.

Finally, Ed Rogers writing today in the WaPo says Flynn's plea doesn't prove collusion, and the Dem's collusion outrage is running out of steam:

Friday morning’s guilty plea from former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn is a major disappointment for Democrats. Flynn admitting to having made false statements is nowhere near where the Democrats want this to go. Of course, the story is big and the fact that a former White House official has been charged with anything and pleaded guilty is consequential, but it doesn’t suggest any collusion occurred and it doesn’t even get close to confirming that Donald Trump or his campaign was somehow complicit in a nefarious scheme. Democrats are already straining themselves trying to suggest that Flynn’s plea is just the beginning and that there is more to come. But as far as Flynn is concerned, that is unlikely. It is just wishful thinking on their part. It’s not as though he pleaded guilty only to leave unresolved matters for later. Commentators are saying Flynn’s plea couldn’t come at a worse time for the president. As Republicans are on the brink of passing this administration’s most important legislative initiative with the GOP-led tax reform bill, some in the media have gone so far as to suggest Flynn’s admission of guilt may disrupt the tax bill’s vote count in Congress. Well, a note to the political geniuses in the liberal mainstream media: There isn’t one Republican member of Congress thinking, “Gee, Flynn pleaded guilty to something or another. Maybe I won’t vote for a tax cut.” It just doesn’t work that way.