The House is holding inconsequential hearings on why Donald Trump hired, and then fired, General Mike Flynn as National Security Director.
Amid it all, we’ve learned that President Obama vaguely warned Trump about Flynn.
“’Given the importance of the job, the President thought there were better people for it, and that Flynn wasn’t up for the job,’ a former senior Obama administration official told CNN.
So that was the big warning: Obama didn’t think highly of Flynn.
Your grain of salt includes the fact that Obama thought highly of Tim Geitner, the disgraced Treasury Secretary who kind of forgot to pay his taxes for a few years. He also liked Susan Rice, who lied to the U.N., the American people and the world, communist “Energy Czar” Van Jones and many others.
Fortunately, Trump decided within a couple of weeks that Flynn was on the take from foreign countries without full disclosure and fired him.
The star witnesses against Flynn include former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, whom Trump fired for refusing to enforce the President’s travel ban.
Yates called it illegal, even though it had not been adjudicated. That makes her a bona fide hero to Democrats.
The way Trump fired her makes her even more of a hero, perhaps a Hollywood movie hero at some point.
Trump’s press release excoriated Yates: “The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States. This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.”
“Betrayed.” Weak on borders.”Weak on illegal immigration.”
Those words are a badge of honor for a liberal Democrat.
So, she had to know she would be asked to resign once she decided to tell the boss she refused to do her job.
It’s not too hard to guess what Democrats really want from these hearings is for someone to say Trump knew all along that Flynn was conspiring with the Russians to leverage the election in his favor with the phished Hillary campaign emails.
Sure, that would give Democrats more arguments to declare Trump’s presidency “illegitimate,” but they’re already doing that.
Stunningly, two more star witnesses are Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former NSA Director General Michael Hayden, both of questionable integrity.
Clapper testified “President Putin directed an influence campaign to erode the faith and confidence of the American people in our presidential election process. He did so to demean Secretary Clinton and he sought to advantage Mr. Trump.”,
This testimony could be devastating except for the source. Clapper has already lied to Congress under oath about NSA eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.
The Republicans were too cowardly to prosecute.
He also lied about Trump’s “wiretap” claim.
“There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign,” Mr. Clapper once said.
Reporters learned that the F.B.I. did obtain a court-approved wiretap on campaign advisor Carter Page, based on evidence that he was operating as a Russian agent.
Hayden also lied to Congress under oath about the NSA eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.
No matter what these hearings reveal, it will matter little when the witnesses are as corrupt as any defendant may be.
As truthful as Yates may be about her warning a Trump associate, Clapper and Hayden poison the well.
Then Trump fires FBI Director James Comey as the hearings heat up and to their own detriment Democrats’ televised passion against firing Comey is just as passionate as their original mania for him to be fired.
All of the players seem to be nuts.
Richard Branson now promises Stephen Hawking a ride on his private spaceship as Hawking dreams of humans populating other planets while this one spins into eventual oblivion.
Does he really think these human frailties won’t follow?

Contact Rick at rick@wdel.com, or follow him on Twitter @Jensen1150WDEL.