Trump & Mueller: Climbing Robert’s Ladder Scratch Pad (December 1, 2017)

Shocking, but perhaps not surprising, was today’s drama of a Legal Sweetheart Deal (Maybe) for Michael Flynn, Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor, who was already under FBI investigation before he ever took office, appointed by Trump without any Senate confirmation.

Trump’s political pace is fast and frantic, but this one is historic. Just ten months after Trump became President, his hand-picked National Security Advisor has confessed to committing a criminal felony while serving as a Federal Official, pleaded guilty to that charge in Federal Court (false statements), and agreed to fully co-operate with Special Counsel Mueller’s further investigations into Russian collusion in the 2016 Trump Campaign.

Slam, bam, Thank you, Ma’am, all in one day on the record. Fait Accompli on this charge. Flynn’s nightmare is not over. He is subject to additional federal charges for other possible crimes, and his plea deal sentence is not guaranteed and depends on his willing and complete cooperation. Furthermore, he may be subject to separate and additional state criminal charges, possibly in New York or Virginia.

Flynn’s legal jeopardy makes him the fourth Trump 2016 Campaign official since July 2017 indicted (Paul Manafort, Rick Gates) or pleading guilty (George Papadopoulos, Mike Flynn) under scrutiny by Mueller.

Decoding the Mueller Court Filings Released Today

America is about to enjoy several new rounds of paper detective work trying to figure out the Identification Code applied by Mueller’s prosecutors to relevant persons not yet charged in the investigation.

We have been through this before in October when legal documents relating to the other three Trump aides were released. Mueller’s team has added four new items and descriptions to the Guess Who list sweepstakes today.

The first one is Flynn himself, kind of obvious, but we now have a place holder designation in Mueller Speak for his role in the Administration hierarchy, a sort of political social networking web for Trump officials. The descriptions below are taken directly from the 8-page Flynn Information document released by the Court today at Flynn’s appearance.

Trump Officials Code Descriptions (December 1, 2017)

Senior member of President-Elect Trump’s Transition Team
Senior official of the Presidential Transition Team “PTT Official” [Russia Sanctions}
Senior members of the Presidential Transition Team (at Mar-a-Lago 12/29/16)
Very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team (UN Security Council Resolution by Egypt on Israel)

Who Is Who? (Decoding the ID Puzzle)

There was immediate intense interest in unmasking the names to go with the descriptions. Major news outlets have competed to get there firstest with the mostest. As of early this evening, based on leaky sources within the Trump White House, who didn’t want to be named on the record, an evolving consensus is that:

Designation #1 is none other than Michael Flynn himself, because the filed legal document says so.

Designation #2 is K.T. McFarland, former Deputy National Security Advisor, now nominated as Ambassador to Singapore, according to television and internet news reports.

Designation #4 is Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President (married to Ivanka Trump), according to television and internet news reports

Which leaves only Designation #3 as a mystery, and a very good one since it consists of several people.

Granted there was huge time pressure to beat the competition this afternoon for a scoop, but really there has been some sloppy and lazy punditry on this score, filling the airwaves with noise and heat, but little light. The most cautious responses have been that the members of Designation #3 could be anybody close to Trump, but there aren’t too many peers or seniors to Flynn, so it’s likely a pretty small list.

We Do Have Some Clues (Thanks to Mueller’s Carefully Worded Filing )

Here’s a first cut at who the folks in Designation #3 might really be. I have reviewed readily available internet sources, newspaper stories, some videos, photographs, Google images and searches, Network TV reports, AP wire service reporting, and other electronic resources, including the ever valuable Wikipedia. I have tried scrupulously to avoid any actual FAKE NEWS sources and conspiracy theorists, like the Flat Earth Society, The Illuminati, and the World Cabal, among others.

What Trump Inner Circle Members and Senior Advisors were definitely at Mar-a-Lago on December 29, 2017? The best evidence available on short notice, includes the following:

Sean Spicer (incoming White House Press Secretary)

Reince Priebus (incoming Chief of Staff)

Stephen Bannon (chief strategist and senior counselor)

Stephen Miller (policy strategist)

K.T. McFarland (incoming Deputy National Security Advisor)

Kellyanne Conway (campaign chief and counselor to the president)

Remember that Trump & Company spent the Christmas 2016 holidays, working hard and celebrating, from December 16 through January 1, 2017. They completed the last round of election victory rallies, conducted an informal, somewhat controversial off the record press briefing on 12/18/16, partied some, enjoyed the Mar-a-Lago ambiance, made phone calls, hit the Sunday news shows to get out the message, and Trump worked on his memorable Inauguration speech.

What Trump Inner Circle Members and Senior Advisors were almost certainly present at Mar-a-Lago on December 29, since they travelled with the President and were definitely present on 12/18/16:

Jason Miller (Communications Director- he quit his job just before Inauguration)

Hope Hicks (Campaign Press Secretary)

There are two more Trump Inner Circle Members and Senior Advisors to add:

Keith Schiller (Director of Trump’s Security)

Donald Trump Jr. (the only one of Trump’s adult children who was there)

There are compilations of the Official Trump Transition Team history, and its structure and organization chart.. Remember it was a chaotic and disjointed affair with Chris Christie in charge from May 2016 until the election, when he was summarily removed and replaced by Mike Pence as Major Domo. Worse, nearly all of Christies deputies and staff were removed at the same time, thus short circuiting whatever institutional transition memory existed before the middle of November 2016. Scramble, scramble, shoot on the run.

Nonetheless, here are the official most senior members of the PTT, as best we can tell:

Transition Chair & Vice Chairs

Mike Pence (Vice President Elect)
Michael Flynn (incoming National Security Advisor),
Jeff Sessions (incoming Attorney General),
K.T. McFarland (incoming Deputy National Security Advisor),

Transition Executive Committee Members

Steve Bannon, (Trump campaign CEO; named Counselor to the President on November 13)
Steven Mnuchin (incoming Secretary of the Treasury)
Reince Priebus (RNC chairman; named incoming White House Chief of Staff on November 13)
Donald Trump Jr.
Eric Trump
Ivanka Trump
Jared Kushner, businessman; husband of Ivanka Trump

This group. combined with those present at Mar-a-Lago on December 29, 2016 pretty much comprise the universe of possible candidates for membership in Mueller’s Designation #3 Group.

As completely as possible on short notice, I consulted news sources to try and verify the absence of any of these Trump stalwarts from attendance at Mar-a-Lago on Mueller’s critical date in December.

Sort of a Venn Diagram of overlapping and exclusionary group memberships. Here’s what I found:

Let’s start with famil.:

Eric Trump and his wife spent the holidays in North Carolina (her family)

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump spent their holidays in Hawaii (on vacation!)

Steve Mnuchin spent his holidays in New York preparing for his Senate Confirmation Hearing and fiddling with his Financial Disclosure Forms (a real bear).

Jeff Sessions spent his time from before Christmas until January 7, 2017 working on his skillful answers for his Senate Confirmation Hearing before his erstwhile colleagues.

PTT Chairman and Vice-President Elect Mike Pence enjoyed his Christmas holidays in Indiana, and preparing for his son’s wedding later in Christmas week 2016.

So, the best evidence estimate for the members of Group Designation #3 in Mueller Speak is

The Mar-a-Lago Gang of Ten, to wit:

Sean Spicer (incoming White House Press Secretary)

Reince Priebus (incoming Chief of Staff)

Stephen Bannon (chief strategist and senior counselor)

Stephen Miller (policy strategist)

K.T. McFarland (incoming Deputy National Security Advisor)

Kellyanne Conway (campaign chief and counselor to the president)

Jason Miller (Communications Director- he quit his job just before Inauguration)

Hope Hicks (Campaign Press Secretary)

Keith Schiller (Director of Trump’s Security)

Donald Trump Jr. (the only one of Trump’s adult children who was there)

Summary

No guarantees, but I’d bet this list is pretty complete. Sometime soon, we may know if my Crystal Ball is cracked.

I’m quite sure this is just a mere coincidence, but notice that among the Gang of Ten, six are gone, gone, gone from the White House. DJT Jr., easily the least talented of the Trump children never was in the White House officially, but he has managed to get completely balled up in the Russia mess over his role in the Campaign and his big mouth on Twitter and TV, and even with Dad’s press release help, and White House staff support to massage his omissions and denials, he Is up to his eyeballs and beyond.

The remaining three, Kellyanne, Steve Miller, and Hope Hicks are a pale shadow of Trump’s original high octane White House Senior Staff. Most of the Ten have had to retain white collar criminal lawyers, some more than one. I’m not sure if Mueller’s team has interviewed Kellyanne Conway, or Steve Miller yet, but there are certainly reports that he has contacted Hope Hicks.

Given the high likelihood that there would be a Legal Defense sharing agreement for any of them and the rest of the Trump campaign staff under investigation, Mueller may well keep his powder dry until he is further along in his work.

Some wags has postulated that Mueller will wrap it up by the end of this year. It should already have been obvious such a sentiment was a pipe dream, but after today, you would have to be pretty hardcore delusional to buy into that fantasy.

Painful as it may seem to Trump’s stalwarts, Special Counsel Mueller has done an admirable job doing his job so far. As befits a national security investigation, his team security has been tight as a drum. What we have learned out of school has mainly come from leaky Trump friends, lawyers, and White House staff. A nice contrast when legal rights are involved.

Mueller’s work ethic and performance has been a testament to our brilliantly constructed Constitution and Bill of Rights, and our governance under a set of codified laws, with Separation of Powers, to protect our democracy and liberty. He has shown that Twits are not necessary to move events along.

Hold on, America. It’s going to be one hell of a ride. We have survived wars and secession, near economic collapse, the scourge of slavery, and Watergate, and we are still here.

Everybody needs a Timeline and a serious data base to follow an unfolding story this rich and complex in order to keep this details and intersections straight. Actually several of each, and a fast computer. Otherwise you’ll end up with a splitting headache.

No doubt there will be memoirs, histories, current events, and political science volumes galore to come. The Washington Post, New York Times, and quality investigative journalists everywhere are sharpening their pencils. No doubt the Fox Crowd (ex-Bill Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and others will take their bibliographic whacks as well, fueled by a full set of Alternate Facts on Call.

One tiny ray of sunshine for America is that whatever happens in the end, Trump.45 will not be able to patent or monetize for his personal benefit the huge literary and film output that will be produced in the next few decades. No more copyrighting MAGA, or “The Impeachment & Trial of Donald J Trump”, or “The Fight Over the 25^th Amendment”, or “How A Massive Tax Cut Saved the Billionaire’s Bacon”, or “Didn’t I Tell You All Women are Special”, etc.

I hope I live long enough to see the first book-length Pulitzer Prize awarded.

Amen and God Bless America.

Addendum

There is always a potential fly in the ointment. One of Trump’s Inner Core has not been accounted for. His personal business lawyer, Michael Cohen, has an abrasive and hectoring style, and has already drawn the attention of the Special Counsel over Russian deals, like the abortive Trump Moscow Tower negotiations in 2015 and early 2016.

I have found a picture of Cohen meeting with former pro football players Jim Brown and Ray Lewis, and Curtis Martin at Trump Tower New York on December 13, 2016, but nothing for the rest of the month. I don’t think he flew to Mar-a-Lago for Christmas, but I can’t be certain. Chalk him up as an indeterminate solo Venn attribute for now.

Excerpts from Flynn Information Statement Released on December 1, 2017

Flynn was a senior member of President-Elect Trump’s Transition Team

First Instance

On 12/29/16 Flynn called a senior official of the Presidential transition Team “PTT Official”

On or about December 29, 2016, FLYNN called a senior official of the Presidential Transition Team (“PTT official”), who was with other senior members of the Presidential Transition Team at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss what, if anything, to communicate to the Russian Ambassador about the U.S. Sanctions. On that call, FLYNN and the PTT official discussed the U.S. Sanctions, including the potential impact of those sanctions on the incoming administration’s foreign policy goals. The P’IT official and FLYNN also discussed that the members of the Presidential Transition Team at Mar-a-Lago did not want Russia to escalate the situation.

On 12/31 Flynn

After his phone call with the Russian Ambassador, FLYNN spoke with senior members of the Presidential Transition Team about FLYNN’s conversations with the Russian Ambassador regarding the U.S. Sanctions and Russia’s decision not to escalate the situation.

Second Instance

During the January 24 voluntary interview, FLYNN made additional false statements about calls he made to Russia and several other countries regarding a resolution submitted by Egypt to the United Nations Security Council on December 21, 2016.

On or about December 22, 2016, a very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team directed FLYNN to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, to learn where each government stood on the resolution and to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution.

Third Instance

On March 7, 2017, FLYNN filed multiple documents with the Department ofJustice pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (..FARA”) pertaining to a project performed by him and his company, the Flynn Intel Group, Inc. (“FIG”), for the principal benefit of the Republic of Turkey (”Turkey project”). In the FARA filings, FLYNN made materially false statements and omissions, including by falsely staling that (a) FIO did not know whether or the extent to which the Republic of Turkey was involved in the Turkey project, (b) the Turkey project was focused on improving U.S. business organizations’ confidence regarding doing business in Turkey, and (c) an op-ed by FLYNN published in The Hill on November 8, 2016, was written at his own initiative; and by omitting that officials from the Republic of Turkey provided supervision and direction over the Turkey project.

Filed 11/30/17

Flynn’s Lawyers: