Next up, Reuters: Flynn ALSO discussed creating a back channel.

[MelissaB]

I changed the title of this thread because I think I missed what may be the most important part. Look at the last paragraph I posted.

Trump son-in-law had undisclosed contacts with Russian envoy - sources

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters.

Those contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year, two of the sources said. By early this year, Kushner had become a focus of the FBI investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, said two other sources - one current and one former law enforcement official.

... snip

Conversations between Flynn and Kislyak accelerated after the Nov. 8 vote as the two discussed establishing a back channel for communication between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass the U.S. national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations, four current U.S. officials said.

More: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-fbi-kushner-exclusive-idUSKBN18N018

[procon]

1. And the others who were named will be popping up any day now.

The tentacles on this Russian mess will reach far and wide, and I suspect that we will all be shocked to learn who is involved.

[MelissaB]

2. Title changed to reflect what I missed. Flynn also tried to establish a back channel.

[writes3000]

3. If this was simply legit diplomacy, why couldn't it wait two months? And why secret convos?

[frogmarch]

4. Some time ago - weeks, I think,

I heard on one of the MSNBC shows - Chris, Rachel or Lawrence - something about a back channel one of the Trump team had wanted to set up with Russia, but whoever the guest was played it down, saying there was nothing illegal about doing that and that JFK and other presidents wanted (or would have wanted) to do the same thing. And that was the end of the discussion about back channels.

Now everyone is in an uproar over Kushner trying to set one up with Russia. Is that because he tried to do it before Trump was inaugurated, or because the back channel would use a Russian operational system?