HOLD UP: Did JARED KUSHNER tell Michael Flynn to contact Russia? (And what would that mean?)

Sarah D | 2:02 PM on December 01, 2017

The Flynn plot thickens:

Jared Kushner is said to have ordered Michael Flynn to contact Russia, @EliLake reports https://t.co/659E82AKMI via @BV pic.twitter.com/p9SGHUGa40

— Bloomberg (@business) December 1, 2017

It was Kushner, reports @EliLake https://t.co/EQA0bAFPuc

— Ramesh Ponnuru (@RameshPonnuru) December 1, 2017

Here we go https://t.co/diT6sw2qW5

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) December 1, 2017

WOWZA

— David Brevitz (@dbrevitz) December 1, 2017

https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/936663680195940352

More from Bloomberg’s Eli Lake:

Two former officials with the Trump transition team who worked closely with Flynn say that during the last days of the Obama administration, the retired general was instructed to contact foreign ambassadors and foreign ministers of countries on the U.N. Security Council, ahead of a vote condemning Israeli settlements. Flynn was told to try to get them to delay that vote until after Barack Obama had left office, or oppose the resolution altogether.

That is relevant now because one of Flynn’s lies to the FBI was when he said that he never asked Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, to delay the vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution. The indictment released today from the office of special prosecutor Robert Mueller describes this lie: “On or about December 22, 2016, Flynn did not ask the Russian Ambassador to delay the vote on or defeat a pending United Nations Security Council resolution.”

…

This was the context of Kushner’s instruction to Flynn last December. One transition official at the time said Kushner called Flynn to tell him he needed to get every foreign minister or ambassador from a country on the U.N. Security Council to delay or vote against the resolution. Much of this appeared to be coordinated also with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose envoys shared their own intelligence about the Obama administration’s lobbying efforts to get member stats to support the resolution with the Trump transition team.

…to contact Russia & other govs about the UN resolution on Israeli settlements. Still waiting on identity of official who instructed Flynn to continue talks w/Kislyak about Russia sanctions (tho all signs point to Kushner.) https://t.co/WFqhjh2vXp

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) December 1, 2017

Important point from Lake:

For now it’s unclear what to make of all of this. Lying to the FBI is a felony and always a serious matter. We also know from Flynn’s “statement of the offense” that he lied to FBI agents as the bureau was investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and any links between Russia and the Trump campaign in this period. Nonetheless, nothing in the Flynn plea sheds any light on whether the Trump campaign actually colluded with Russia to influence the election.

In other words, this is still a weird, confusing mess. The questions now are: Did Jared Kushner actually tell Flynn to contact Russian officials, and if so, in what context? And what impact will this have on Donald Trump?

https://twitter.com/woodruffbets/status/936665991152656384

https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/936663934953775104

what do you get your father in law for Christmas if you kinda sorta accidentally destroyed his presidency https://t.co/vrCnjLbjdO

— kilgore trout was in the loop (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 1, 2017