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[nlightn]

House Oversight set a Michael Flynn document trap, and Donald Trump just stepped in it
Tue Apr 25, 2017

Congress is back in session today after a long recess, and it took just a few hours for the fireworks to get going in Donald Trump’s Russia scandal. But those fireworks came from an unlikely place – and they’ve delivered a perceptual blow to Trump that may have altered how an already skeptical public views the Trump administration. Today’s happenings may have also offered additional insight into what’s really going on with Jason Chaffetz behind the scenes.

Last night word leaked out to the media that the House Oversight Committee is going on the offensive against Michael Flynn (http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/serious-jason-chaffetz-trump-russia-committee/2437/). This is the committee chaired by Jason Chaffetz, who up to this point had seemingly been trying to protect Trump by not allowing his committee to carry out a serious investigation. But during the recess, reports surfaced that the FBI may be onto Chaffetz for having been caught up in the Russia scandal himself. Then days later Chaffetz announced he won’t seek reelection and he may not even finish his current term. And now, in a move that’s left many scratching their heads, the Chaffetz-led committee just delivered a striking blow to Trump.

Here’s perhaps the best way to summarize today’s events. The House Oversight Committee had requested that Trump’s White House turn over documents about Michael Flynn. The White House responded by saying that it can’t turn over some of the documents in question, because some are located at other agencies, and one document exceeds the clearance level of even the ranking members of the committee. It’s not yet clear whether the White House is being truthful or not in its response. But because the Trump administration is so widely seen as dishonest, having already been caught lying about everything from inauguration crowd size to the location of the USS Carl Vinson, Trump and team are not being given the benefit of the doubt today.

Suddenly major headlines are appearing that say things like “Trump White House Refuses to Give Key Flynn Documents to Congress” (Mother Jones) and “White House rejects Oversight request for Flynn documents” (The Hill). These headlines are accurate. But by default, they’ll steer the public toward concluding that the White House is now trying to cover up Flynn’s crimes.

It’s fairly evident in hindsight that the House Oversight Committee strategically requested these particular Flynn documents, knowing that Trump’s White House would probably say no, in order to allow the resulting media narrative to form. Jason Chaffetz and ranking Democratic member Elijah Cummings are both savvy enough to know how these things work, and had to have known this is how things would play out. And there they were today, side by side in a televised press conference, both ripping into Flynn in equal measure. Notably, the committee letter demanding the documents was dated March 22nd (PDF link). So was this truly a month long trap in the making?

The question now is why Chaffetz seems to be playing for the anti-Trump team, working with Cummings to set this trap in order to prompt the media to paint Donald Trump and White House as being in desperate cover-up mode. Is Chaffetz truly in legal trouble behind the scenes, as reports have been asserting (link) for the past ten days? Is that why he just announced he’s ending his career in Congress? Are we seeing him carrying out the bidding of the FBI in order to insulate himself?