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<\/p>\nRachel Maddow Explains Why The Flynn-Russia Revelations are a Really, Really Big Deal: WATCH<\/b><\/p>\n
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Rachel Maddow last night did a brilliant job of\u00a0putting the Michael Flynn-Russia story <\/a>into context and why it\u2019s such a big deal.<\/p>\n News broke yesterday that\u00a0National security adviser Michael Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador a month before Trump took office, something that Trump administration officials have been denying for months.<\/p>\n Why is this such a big deal? Follow the breadcrumbs.<\/p>\n The line of dominos started tumbling, Maddow explained, after Obama announced sanctions against Russia which included\u00a0news that he was expelling Russian diplomats from the U.S.. When something like that happens, U.S. officials expect a response from Moscow.<\/p>\n This time there was none, and that was odd.<\/p>\n The Washington Post<\/em> reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n Putin\u2019s muted response \u2014 which took White House officials by surprise \u2014 raised some officials\u2019 suspicions that Moscow may have been promised a reprieve, and triggered a search by U.S. spy agencies for clues.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething happened in those 24\u00a0hours\u201d between Obama\u2019s announcement and Putin\u2019s response, a former senior U.S. official said. Officials began poring over intelligence reports, intercepted communications and diplomatic cables, and saw evidence that Flynn and Kislyak had communicated by text and telephone around the time of the announcement.<\/p>\n The WaPo had NINE\u00a0sources for their story, from multiple agencies. When confronted with that fact, Flynn, who had been denying for weeks that he spoke about sanctions with the Russian ambassador, suddenly said he did not recall if he talked about that or not.<\/p>\n The bottom line is that unless these NINE sources from multiple intel agencies are wrong, Flynn called Russia to undermine the sanctions that Obama had just announced.<\/p>\n Said Maddow:<\/p>\n \u201cWorking secretly with a foreign power to undermine the actions of the U.S. government, that\u2019s kind of a big deal. Even the Trump folks recognize that somebody\u00a0doing that would be kind of a big deal. They recognized it enough\u00a0that they took great pains to deny the heck out of this for weeks now.\u201d<\/p>\n And here\u2019s why the story is so important:<\/p>\n \u201cFirst thing to appreciate here is the lying. Either the White House spokesman, the White House Chief of Staff, and the Vice President all bluntly lied knowingly<\/em>, about Mike Flynn and what he was doing with Russia. Or they lied inadvertently, unknowingly, because they were saying something they thought was true because Mike Flynn told them a lie<\/em> and they passed it on, thinking it was true. Either way, that can\u2019t stand.\u201d<\/p>\n And this:<\/p>\n \u201cSecond point to appreciate is the direct bottom line\u2026which is that the senior National Security Advisor in this new administration personally interfered in U.S. government efforts to punish Russia for interfering in our election.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one last point\u2026unappreciably big\u2026buried in the seventh paragraph of the Washington Post story is the news that [this incident] is not a standalone thing\u2026both papers are now reporting that Mike Flynn\u2019s contacts with the Russian government started during the campaign<\/em>\u2026while Russia was interfering in\u00a0the U.S. election to try to elect Donald Trump president his top national security advisor\u2026was in repeated contact with the Russian government at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n The WaPo noted<\/a>:<\/p>\n The talks were part of a series of contacts between Flynn and Kislyak that began before the Nov.\u00a08 election and continued during the transition, officials said.<\/p>\n Watch:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Maddow then spoke with Rep. Adam Schiff about the developments:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The post Rachel Maddow Explains Why The Flynn-Russia Revelations are a Really, Really Big Deal: WATCH<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n