After Flynn, Are Kushner and Don Jr. Next?

[Arkansas Granny]

On Friday morning, Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. while serving as President Trump’s national security adviser. Making a false statement to a federal official is a felony offense, but nowhere near as bad as what the special counsel, Robert Mueller, could likely have charged Mr. Flynn with, including charges for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (similar to those brought against the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates) or those stemming from a possible attempt to kidnap a Turkish cleric in Pennsylvania. By pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with Mr. Mueller, Mr. Flynn also appears to have averted prosecution of his son, who was reportedly implicated in some of the misconduct.

Prosecutors generally offer favorable plea bargains like this one only when the cooperating defendant can provide evidence that incriminates someone “up the ladder” — someone more senior than the defendant himself. In our experience, that is particularly true when the prosecutor is deciding not to pursue other, readily provable charges, like those that seem to exist here.

Lest there be any doubt about what is happening, the statement of the offense filed along with Mr. Flynn’s plea shows that he is prepared to testify that the communications that he lied about, concerning conversations with the Russian ambassador in December 2016, were discussed with multiple members of the transition team — including one “senior official” and one “very senior member.” It is not yet clear who those individuals are, but transition officials and members included Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. as well as Vice President Mike Pence, Representative Devin Nunes of California; the former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

It is probably Mr. Kushner who is in greatest jeopardy now. Bloomberg has reported that he is the very senior transition member who directed Mr. Flynn to reach out to Russia. Mr. Kushner has already been questioned by the special counsel and by Congress. If he was one of those officials Mr. Flynn spoke to and he was not honest about it when questioned, he could face similar false statement charges.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/opinion/flynn-kushner-donald-trump-jr.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&referer=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

This article was written by Richard W. Painter and Norman L. Eisen. Richard Painter was ethics lawyer for George W. Bush.

[MFM008]

1. Yes

Mueller MAY be going after the entire transition team OR
everyone in the meeting in June at TT.

[safeinOhio]

2. Im betting itll be someone few have heard about.

Every good detective story has a surprise. Some low level person that every will say WTF. The Mueller will tie it all together with an open and closed case against trump.

[DangerousUrNot]

3. Im wishing it is Kushner....

The fact that he looks so smug, being appointed to all those responsibilities and not really having the grades to get into Harvard makes me not like him. He’s lied so much and kept many documents away from the investigation and deserves the walk of shame into the courthouse. Maybe I’m petty but I really want to see him go down crying. I bet he will cry.

[Gothmog]

4. Don Jr and Jared are next