What and When

The infamous question that Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee asked during the Watergate hearings, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”  is now uttered with regularity as revelations about the case of Lt. General Michael Flynn are released.

This question is being asked in light of documents that demonstrate that the former President evidently knew a lot more than he let on.  In fact, after remaining silent about this issue, last Friday, Barack Obama commented on the Flynn case dismissal by the DOJ.  

He opined, “There is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free,” to approximately 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association.

“Barack Obama's political genius is his ability to say things that will sound good to people who have not followed the issues in any detail — regardless of how obviously fraudulent what he says may be to those who have.”   Thomas Sowell, PhD, Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution. 

Only one problem with former President Obama’s statement, Lt. General Flynn was not charged with perjury, which is lying under oath in a legal proceeding, he plead guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI, regarding conversations with the Russians Ambassador.  The General did this after the FBI squeezed him, telling him that his son would be going to jail as well. Sadly, the FBI never told him at the time he was interviewed, that he was under investigation for colluding with the Russians.  

To back up this case of political espionage, the names of the 39 Obama Administration officials who requested the unmasking of General Flynn as a participant in the Russian Ambassador call were released yesterday. The General’s 4th Amendment rights which protect citizens from unlawful searches and seizures were violated by these actions.  You need a warrant to spy on a citizen when surveilling a foreign diplomat. No warrant issued therefore its a felony to unmask. Leaking unmasking information is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. That’s a fact.

Furthermore, other information released after the Justice Department dropped its charges against Flynn, shows that President Barack Obama played a pivotal role in fanning the flames of a phony scandal after the election was over. Fully briefed on the investigation, he knew the FBI had come up with nothing despite months of work starting in July 2016.

Now before readers get the idea that the former president is going to get “perp-walked” out of his DC estate, there is a better chance of aliens landing on the Lincoln Memorial than this happening.  But certainly, there is strong possibility that his presidential legacy could be as stained with corruption as President Nixon’s was, maybe more. 

A January 5th meeting in 2017 held by then President Obama in the Oval Office seems to be the focus of curiosity with respect to “what did the president know” as many of his administration officials in that meeting had testified in confidential hearings held by Rep. Adam Schiff.  In that documented meeting was Vice President Joe Biden, intel chiefs John Brennan and Jim Clapper, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, FBI Director Jim Comey, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Yates was shocked when she stayed behind with FBI Director James Comey to hear that the President Obama knew all about the wiretap of General Flynn and the Russian Ambassador.  Obama told top officials who’d be staying on in the new administration to keep the crucial facts from Team Trump. 

In the released transcripts of the 53 witnesses who testified before the House intelligence committee in the secret basement room, all admitted, under oath, they knew nothing about any "Russia collusion." Multiple Obama administration officials, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, testified under oath, that they had not seen any evidence proving Trump or members of his campaign team conspired with the Russians to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election. Despite this, these same people  showed up nearly every night on MSNBC and CNN or in print, pushing the fake Russia story and constantly saying they had "proof" of collusion. So, some wouldn’t lie under oath to Congress, but had no problem lying daily to the America people.

For nearly three years the Nation was put through nightly reports that the President was Putin’s puppet, his associates, like General Flynn, were Russian agents. Now it’s rapidly coming unraveled, begging the question, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”  

This case looks more everyday like a duplicitous giant fishing trip that yielded no fish, big or small.