Those who thought the entire Russian intervention in our election was a way to get some payback in the way of a quid pro quo should feel affirmed by today's report that Flynn promised Russian sanctions would be "ripped up" after Trump took office.
Consider this in the context of the indisputable fact that the newest Russian sanctions passed on a near-unanimous basis have not yet been implemented, despite having a deadline which has been ignored by the White House.
According to a letter (PDF) sent to Trey Gowdy by Elijah Cummings, the whistleblower met a man by the name of Alex Copson on Inauguration Day.
Copson had been working with Flynn to promote a joint venture with Russia to build nuclear reactors in Arab countries, and had paid Flynn to promote this venture.
When the whistleblower spoke to Copson at the inaugural event and asked how Copson was doing, he replied, "I couldn't be better. This is the best day of my life." He then went on to explain that he was involved in a joint partnership with Russia and the United States, and had gotten a text message from Flynn saying the project was "good to go," telling Copson to begin letting his colleagues "know to put things in place."
All of this apparently took place during Trump's inauguration speech, because the whistleblower was also able to pinpoint specific times by aligning them with points in Trump's speech.
Not satisfied to stop there, Copson told the whistleblower that Flynn was seeing to it that the sanctions would be "ripped up" as one of his first orders of business. Speaking of President Obama, Copson said he "f*cked everything up in my nuclear deal with the sanctions."
"This is going to make a lot of very wealthy people," he added.
Copson also went on to tell the whistleblower that things will be better "when we recolonize the Middle East."
Again, I remind that the latest round of sanctions on Russia have not been implemented by this White House. Additionally, they recently closed the sanctions office in the State Department, claiming it duplicated other offices in other agencies, as if the State Department was just an extraneous player in the imposition of sanctions.
While sanctions may not have been "ripped up," it isn't like they didn't try. First, they wanted to return the Russian compounds Obama had claimed when he expelled their diplomats in December. And second, they were looking for ways to end the sanctions, to the point where distressed State Department staffers were begging Congress to intervene.
Right after the inaugural, there was a push to end sanctions. The White House explained it this way: “All the sanctions regimes have mechanisms built in to alleviate them. It’s been our hope that the Russians would take advantage of that” by living up to Moscow’s agreement to end the Ukraine conflict, but they did not do so."
In October, The Daily Beast reported that these sanctions have not been implemented and the White House won't tell Congress why.
I think we know the answer to that now. The only thing we don't know is why, after Flynn is gone, Trump insists on serving Putin before the American people. Is he planning on "recolonizing" the Middle East with Putin and some well-placed nukes?
Finally, it should be noted that Saudi Arabia just announced their plans to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, inviting American companies to step up and consider their bids.
That suggests that with or without Michael Flynn, the plans to move forward with nuclear reactors in Arab countries are proceeding.
Trump should be questioned under oath about his reasons for stalling on the new round of sanctions while backing off the existing sanctions. Today. If he refuses, impeach him.
