Page 6
April 12, 2017
New Prices
Effective
April 1, 2017
O PINION
Martin
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Failing Ploys from The Great Distracter
Diverting
attention from
Russia
M el g urtov
Three
of
Donald Trump’s
latest ploys to
distract attention
from Russiagate
have failed.
First was Rep. Devin Nunes’ late
night visit to the White House under
escort by two staff members to view
classified information. The visit in-
creasingly looks like a prearranged
attempt to divert his committee’s
by
investigation into Russiagate.
One of Nunes’ escorts had been
appointed by Michael Flynn, the
former national security assistant;
efforts by Flynn’s successor,
H.R. McMaster, to remove him
were reportedly thwarted by
Trump. As his spokesperson
Sean Spicer might say, this epi-
sode doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Trump is grasping for straws—
anything that will lead the media
and investigators away from the
Russia matter, all the more so now
that Jared Kushner’s meeting with
the representative of a sanctioned
Russian bank has become known.
The second ploy is a signature
example of Trump’s untrustwor-
thiness: His turnabout on immu-
nity for government officials who
might be prosecuted for criminal
behavior.
As he has shown time and again,
what he once said about a matter
is irrelevant to what he now says.
Recall that in late September 2016,
Trump said in reference to Hillary
Clinton senior staff seeking immu-
nity over her use of a private email
server: “The reason they get immu-
nity is because they did something
wrong. If they didn’t do anything
wrong, they don’t think in terms of
immunity.”
Flynn followed up the same
month on NBC’s “Meet the Press”:
“When you are given immunity
that means that you have probably
committed a crime.” A number of
other Trump senior staff weighed
in at that time, trying to score points
off the idea that a President Hillary
Clinton would be under FBI inves-
tigation for years, presenting an in-
tolerable situation.
Now that Trump is under as-
sault, he wants Flynn to testify
under immunity, to challenge the
Democrats’ “witch hunt.” Same
old diversion strategy and it too
smells bad.
Like Nunes, Flynn is a proven
Trump loyalist—a former cam-
paign booster who will do what-
ever is demanded of him to frus-
trate a probe of collusion with the
Russians. Wisely, the Senate Intel-
ligence Committee turned Flynn
down, at least for now.
Trump’s third ploy is to keep
massaging the “wiretap” accusa-
tion, each time trying to redirect
the media and Congressional in-
vestigators. Trump began by di-
rectly accusing President Obama
of having wiretapped him at Trump
Tower.
That accusation got nowhere,
so he diverted to the accusation
that he and his team had been “sur-
veilled” by Obama’s people. Now
that that charge has been shown to
be nothing more than ordinary and
perfectly legal National Security
Agency eavesdropping on phone
calls initiated from abroad, Trump
is asking for investigation of any
kind of surveillance by anyone at
any time. It’s a fishing expedition
that he (probably in league with
Stephen Bannon) surely knows can
go nowhere.
From the president on down,
this is an administration on the de-
fensive, populated by people who
are their own worst enemies. The
Watergate model looks more rele-
vant by the day.
Mel Gurtov, syndicated by
PeaceVoice, is professor emeritus
of political science at Portland
State University.