Epstein Secrets

’s team continued through the Republican Convention in Cleveland, when it was still hardly possible to conceive of Trump’s election. They moved on to Trump Tower with a voluble Steve Bannon—before the election, when he still seemed like an entertaining oddity, and later, after the election, when he seemed like

torture, the surprising liberalism of generals, and the stupidity of the civilian-military bureaucracy. Then it was on to the looming appointment of Michael Flynn—a favorite Trump general who’d been the opening act at many Trump rallies—as the National Security Advisor. “He’s fine. He’s not Jim Mattis and he’s

r. Bolton was an Ailes favorite, too. “He’s a bomb thrower,” said Ailes. “And a strange little fucker. But you need him. Who else is good on Israel? Flynn is a little nutty on Iran. Tillerson”—the secretary of state designate—“just knows oil.” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019885 “Bolton’s mustache is a problem,” s

the National Security Advisor. “Yes,” she said, “General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president.”

Trump has promoted numerous conspiracy theories. including Obama birtherism, the Clinton Body Count theozyt QAnon, the Global warming hoax theory, Trump Tower wiretapping allegations, a John F. Kennedy assassination conspirer theory involving Rafael Cruz, linking talk show host Joe Scarborough to the death

0 to ..help pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovych win the Ukrainian presidency Other Trump associates, including former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and political consultant Roger Stone, were connected to Russian officials. 81[559) Russian agents were overheard during the campaign saying they co

tant Roger Stone, were connected to Russian officials. 81[559) Russian agents were overheard during the campaign saying they could use Manafort and Flynn to influence Trump.156°) Members of Trump's campaign and later his White House staff, particular l Flynn, were in contact with Russian officials bo

pped phone line to its advantage. Consider, for =xample, the tapped phone of Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. On =ecember 1, 2016, Kislyak went to Trump Tower to meet Jared Kushner and =ichael Flynn. According to Kushner's version of that meeting, =islyak suggested that Russian generals could supply infor

=xample, the tapped phone of Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. On =ecember 1, 2016, Kislyak went to Trump Tower to meet Jared Kushner and =ichael Flynn. According to Kushner's version of that meeting, =islyak suggested that Russian generals could supply information about =ussian military operations

ommunity. Nor was this the only =istrust Kislyak cultivated: the conversations on the monitored phone =ed to the firing of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and =onversations that Kislyak had with Attorney General Jeff Sessions led =o Sessions's recusing himself from the Russian investigation, =hich ha

d been surveilled during the campaign. On March 4, Trump’s early morning tweets began: Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! (4:35 a.m.) Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for preside

And, just as basically: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If Trump had one fixed point of reference in the Middle East, it was—mostly courtesy of Michael Flynn’s tutoring —that Iran was the bad guy. Hence everybody opposed to Iran was a pretty good guy. After the election, MBS had reached out to Kushner. In t

o, for the most part, were skilled in the new army jargon of PowerPoint, data dumps, and McKinsey-like presentations. One of the things that endeared Flynn to the president was that Flynn, quite the conspiracist and drama queen, had a vivid storytelling sense. By the time of the Syrian attack on Khan Sh

ost preposterous meetings in modern politics. On June 9, 2016, Don Jr., Jared, and Paul Manafort met with a movieworthy cast of dubious characters in Trump Tower after having been promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Don Jr., encouraged by Jared and Ivanka, was trying to impress his father that

disciplined man in politics. It was clear where Mueller and his team were going, said Bannon: they would trace a money trail through Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, and Jared Kushner and roll one or all of them on the president. It's Shakespearean, he said, enumerating the bad advice from his fam

and, 169-70, 211-15, 217-18, 232-33, 245-46, 261 CPAC and, 126-34 eve of inauguration and, 4-10 first weeks of presidency and, 52-55, 60-65, 67-70 Flynn and, 95, 103, 106 immigration and, 61-65, 77, 113 inauguration and, 42-43, 148 influence of, 70, 85, 108-10, 188 isolationism of, 227 Israel and