There were already plenty of reasons to be worried about President-elect Donald Trump’s national security advisor: He’s an Islamophobe who has lobbied for the Turkish government, taken money from Kremlin-funded Russia Today, and was a leader in the pitchforks-and-torches brigade to lock up Hillary Clinton.
Now, thanks to a bombshell column Thursday night from the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, we may have insight into the retired lieutenant general’s latest antics:
According to a senior U.S. government official, Flynn phoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak several times on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced the expulsion of 35 Russian officials as well as other measures in retaliation for the hacking. ... The Logan Act (though never enforced) bars U.S. citizens from correspondence intending to influence a foreign government about “disputes” with the United States. Was its spirit violated? The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Team Trump long ago abandoned the norm that the president-elect shouldn’t contradict the outgoing one. But now Flynn may have broken the law—and further emphasized Trump’s troubling ties to Russia in the process.