Loading ...Izzie Right? Izzie Wrong? Flynn Lies to the FBI:
By: J. Michael Springmann/Arab America Contributing Writer
What. On December 1, 2017, the New York Times reported that Michael T. Flynn, President Donald J. Trump’s former national security advisor, had lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Most of the article centered on Flynn’s contacts with the former Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey I. Kislyak. Michael Flynn Pleads Guilty to Lying to the F.B.I.
However, buried deep in the story are paragraphs regarding Flynn’s dealing with the Israelis, whom investigative journalist Wayne Madsen has tagged as “Izzies”. The revelations are especially interesting in that Flynn is a decorated Army general and one-time head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Who. According to prosecutors, on Dec. 22 [2016], Mr. Flynn discussed with Mr. Kislyak an upcoming United Nations Security Council vote on whether to condemn Israel’s building of settlements [i.e., colonies]…
Mr. Mueller’s investigators have learned through witnesses and documents that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asked the Trump transition team to lobby other countries to help Israel, according to two people briefed on the inquiry. Investigators have learned that Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kushner [Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, an Orthodox Jew tasked with resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict] took the lead in those efforts.
Facts. According to the Institute for Public Accuracy on December 1, journalist Marcy Wheeler tweeted “The big news is that Flynn lied to the F.B.I. about the [Israeli] settlements vote. This is not just RU [Russia], folks. Never has been.”
The Institute went on to say that Richard Silverstein, who writes on national security issues at Tikun Olam, termed a progressive Jewish blog, noted “Michael Flynn expected to plead guilty of lying to the F.B.I. about the Trump administration lobbying for Israel against the UN settlements resolution. This is BIG!”
The Kushners. In yet another revelation, that same day, December 1, 2017, BuzzFeed (an American Internet news and entertainment company) stated that it wasn’t Bibi Netanyahu who contacted the former national security advisor. Instead, it was “Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, [who] called Michael Flynn in December 2016 and told him to call members of the UN Security Council in an effort to stop a vote on a resolution critical of Israeli settlement policy, according to a person who was present in the room when Flynn took the call.”
BuzzFeed then noted that Flynn contacted Kislyak, the Russian ambassador. The Internet firm next added “… the episode represented the first foray by Trump’s inner circle into foreign policy deal-making, though one that fell flat on its face. The goal was to either block the resolution or delay it until Trump could enter the White House and deliver a veto.” BuzzFeed went on to say that Kushner is under “intense scrutiny” by the matter’s Special Counsel Mueller and congressional investigators, “particularly over his omissions of contacts with foreign nationals on government-required forms.”
Adding to Kushner’s woes is a Newsweek December 3 report that he did not reveal his position as a co-director of the Charles and Seryl Kushner Foundation between 2006 and 2015, “a time when the group funded an Israeli settlement considered to be illegal under international law, on financial records he filed with the Office of Government Ethics earlier this year.” The newsmagazine went on to quote unnamed experts and officials as saying “The failure to disclose his role in the foundation—at a time when he was being tasked with serving as the president’s Middle East peace envoy—follows a pattern of egregious omissions that would bar any other official from continuing to serve in the West Wing…”
(Charles Kushner, fined more than half a million dollars for illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic party, was later sentenced to 24 months in prison for those handouts plus tax evasion and witness tampering.)
Russia. The false claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections began with Hillary Clinton’s assertion of dubious “fact” in the Third Presidential Debate in October 2016. She said (to Donald Trump): “It’s pretty clear you won’t admit that the Russians have engaged in cyberattacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people, that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do, and that you continue to get help from him, because he has a very clear favorite in this race.”
Since then, these claims “have grown like Topsy”. Yet, none of the American intelligence services have provided proof at all. Allegations without more cannot withstand scrutiny in any court of law.
Israeli Interference in U.S. Elections. However, there is no equivalent statement or investigation regarding Israel, America’s oldest enemy, and greatest debtor. According to former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, (D-S.D.) “I was threatened, marginalized, attacked, lied about, among other matters in an effort to silence my criticism of Israel’s policies and of the Lobby.” Abourezk (one of the founders of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) also noted that the FBI’s Washington Field Office once told him that, “during the investigation into Alex Odeh’s murder (Alex was one of my staff people) the FBI had uncovered a “plot” on my life. Not a threat, but a plot, but, … [the Special Agent] said it’s OK now, as the guy who intended to murder me had now gone back to Israel.”
Former Senator James Abourezk
Other Members of Congress have suffered electoral defeats as the result of Izzie efforts to interfere in U.S. elections, particularly targeting critics of Israeli policy, such as Representative Paul Findley (D-Ill.) and Senator Charles Percy (R-Ill.), one-time chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Former Representative Paul Findley
Former Senator Charles Percy
Isn’t it time Robert Mueller, assorted Congressmen, and questionable journalists drop this Russia nonsense and focus their attention on the Izzies, ending their interference in American political affairs?
J. Michael Springmann is an attorney, author, and political commentator. He has written Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World, and a second book, Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb. Both are available on Amazon. The books’ website is: www.michaelspringmann.com
