OPINION:
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Mike Flynn was right to quit. You don’t lie to the vice president of the United States and let him go out on national television and lie to the American people.
President Trump was right to accept his resignation. Or demand it, depending upon which version you choose to believe.
But Mr. Flynn’s original sin is hardly a high crime.
Based on what we know now, the retired general merely dished in private to a top Russian official the precise same sentiments Mr. Trump has been dishing quite publicly in the media, at rallies and on Twitter for over a year and a half now.
Mr. Trump wants to genuinely reset relations with Russia to focus on fighting the relentless scourge of terrorism around the globe. Now, you may think this is a terrible strategy and you may think Russian President Vladimir Putin is a murderous thug running a crime syndicate. But we had an election and this is what voters voted for.
Also, by the way, where is all this justifiable outrage from so-called liberals when it came to the thankfully dead murderous thug of Cuba, Fidel Castro?
So Mike Flynn violated some arcane statute that has never been prosecuted in the more than 200 years it has been on the books. The statute is so loosely defined that Jimmy Carter, Dennis Rodman and the entire Clinton Cartel could have been rung up on that charges a hundred times over.
Again, when did the open-borders crowd become such sticklers for obeying federal laws?
To be sure, what Mike Flynn did was not wise, especially for a guy so steeped in the intelligence world. It was definitely stupid.
But it is not like he hit the Sunday talk show circuit to tell known lies after the ambassador and three others were killed in a terrorist attack on an unguarded consulate in Benghazi.
It is not like he was secretary of state and knowingly lied about the cause of that terrorist attack by blaming it on an obscure internet movie, which virtually nobody had seen. But which became a global sensation after the secretary of state advertised it and it led to deadly protests around the globe.
Nor is it like he gave away the store to our most ardent enemy in the Middle East, removed a raft of global sanctions and essentially paved the road for Iran to develop a nuclear warhead that will probably be able to reach the United States by the time the deal is finished.
But don’t expect to read any of this in the press.
With Mike Flynn, the media are salivating. They think they have finally cornered Mr. Trump in a web of lies that are so serious about a national security issue that is so vital. They think they finally got him.
They are gleeful, whispering about how this really could lead all the way to President Trump himself!
What did you know, Mr. President, and when did you know it? Sir, it is not the crime, but the cover-up.
They are gleeful, they are breathless and they are certain that this time, finally, they got their prey.
If the past year and a half are any guide, however, Teflon Don will live to fight another day.
• Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes.com; follow him on Twitter via @charleshurt.
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