National security expert and Lawfare editor in chief Benjamin Wittes explained in an extensive Twitter thread why President Donald Trump’s supporters shouldn’t count their chickens before they’re hatched when it comes to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

“Hold the champagne—and maybe put away whatever you’re smoking,” he told Trumpland on Wednesday evening. “Gen. Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI not because he was framed but because he got a sweet-ass deal to avoid massive criminal liability for being an unregistered agent of a foreign power while working for a presidential transition. He also avoided his son’s prosecution.”

New documents show that the FBI had a conversation about the need to get Flynn to admit in questioning that he violated the Logan Act, which prevents unregistered foreign agents from doing business with international governments on behalf of the United States. There was a discussion that they also look for occasions where Flynn lied under oath. As former federal prosecutors pointed out, it’s something FBI agents do to all suspects. Flynn is no exception.

“While in the White House, he unequivocally lied to both the Vice President of the United States and to the chief of staff to the President of the United States about his interactions with the Russian ambassador,” explained Wittes. “And he was fired for it. Nothing that has come out suggests the facts that he admitted to in the context of his plea are untrue or that his plea was coerced in any way.”

He acknowledged that Trump may still pardon Flynn, but Flynn will never be “cleared” and Judge Emmet Sullivan won’t be surprised by the latest “revelations.”

Read his full Twitter thread.

“Jefferson was also a rapist and a white supremacist”

Exactly five minutes after the House of Representatives passed a resolution laying out the procedures for the public phase of the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump posted a tweet with this quote from Thomas Jefferson to defend her boss and father:

“…surrounded by enemies and spies catching and perverting every word that falls from my lips or flows from my pen, and inventing where facts fail them.”

Apparently, Ivanka Trump should have chosen her words more carefully:

It’s interesting Ivanka picked this example because the thing Jefferson’s enemies were accusing him of — fathering a child with a slave — was absolutely something he did. 6 times as a matter of fact. Jefferson was bemoaning being called out for something he actually did. https://t.co/ZnvjPLrkjY

— Rachel Joy Larris (@RachelLarris) October 31, 2019

Few were amused, many appeared angered and indignant, some offered additional founding father quotes, and many reminded her of her father’s crimes and misdeeds:

So, Ivanka, couple things:
a.) Jefferson worked his whole life to ensure the president was not above the law
b.) Jefferson was the first top official to call for the impeachment of a president (Washington) for being too close a foreign nation (when he approved the Jay Treaty).

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) October 31, 2019

Rest of that quote:
“I pant for that society where all is peace and harmony, where we love & are beloved by every object we see.”

When will the White House be promoting that? pic.twitter.com/e3297JAVPa

— Sarah Burris (@SarahBurris) October 31, 2019

For instance, Jefferson was also a rapist and a white supremacist https://t.co/OnecifcC6Q

— David Klion🔥 (@DavidKlion) October 31, 2019

Like Trump, Thomas Jefferson also had a child he refused to acknowledge https://t.co/kCfhTGyLf1

— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) October 31, 2019

The privileged delusion of a pretend princess. https://t.co/CRJ1aLuRpi

— Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) October 31, 2019

Apples and oranges, dearie. Your daddy and his co-conspirators are surrounded by patriots, willing to risk their livelihoods in order to expose and uproot corruption.https://t.co/bvWNvpRJk0

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) October 31, 2019

“The public will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit… nor can they ever see w/ approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property”—Thomas Jefferson https://t.co/Pa0aKtZtew

— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) October 31, 2019

your dad wishes every day he could be like thomas jefferson and own slaves https://t.co/8Qv2WTXZ3K

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 31, 2019

“Shall any man be above Justice?…Shall the man who has practised corruption & by that means procured his appointment in the first instance be suffered to escape punishment by repeating his guilt?”—George Mason on impeachment, 1787.

Some things never change! https://t.co/Pa0aKtZtew

— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) October 31, 2019

jefferson, of course, famously asked france for dirt on alexander hamilton https://t.co/PStY9NBut8

— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 31, 2019

Jefferson reflected more deeply on the abuse of power in the “Declaration of Independence.” He had a list of grievances against King George III that included:

— “He has refused his Assent to Laws”
— “He has obstructed the Administration of Justice”

Some things never change. https://t.co/tKEZnP8nIX

— Tim O’Brien (@TimOBrien) October 31, 2019

How are your kids, sweatshop Barbie? Safe and warm in their penthouse, with at least part time access to their mom? https://t.co/Gtdj6QNmaF

— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) October 31, 2019

Before people get angry with Ivanka comparing her ignorant, unread father to an intelligent, learned man like Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson did have sex with women without consent, so it’s not as big a stretch as it might appear on first glance. https://t.co/gKUUCDO7bL

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) October 31, 2019

Thomas Jefferson also said this:

“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”

That’s about your dad. https://t.co/oEQnd0Eo63

— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) October 31, 2019

‘By What Statutory Authority Did the President Purport to Appoint Cuccinelli as Acting Director of USCIS?’

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli without notice showed up for work today as the Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USCIS) agency, after President Donald Trump appointed him to the post.

Some legal experts are warning that Trump does not have the authority to make the appointment.

Cuccinelli is best known for his extreme positions on issues ranging from abortion to climate change to homosexuality and marriage. He has called homosexuality “against nature and are harmful to society,” and even worked to make oral sex illegal, only to be shot down at the Supreme Court. During his tenure as Virginia’s Attorney General he investigated climate scientists, arguing they were engaged in fraud, and has worked to rescind birthright citizenship – which is in the U.S. Constitution – and even tried to force employees to speak only English in the workplace.

Saying he is “honored to be given the opportunity,” Cuccinelli via a press release announced that USCIS “has the extraordinary responsibility to administer and protect the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system. Our nation has the most generous legal immigration system in the world and we must zealously safeguard its promise for those who lawfully come here,” echoing President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.

But some legal experts question if President Trump has the authority to appoint Cuccinelli Acting Director of USCIS.

Cuccinelli, in an email to USCIS employees, said he wants to “work to find longterm solutions to close asylum loopholes that encourage many to make the dangers journey into the united states so that those who truly need humanitarian protections and meet the criteria under the law receive them,” as Buzzfeed’s Hamed Aleaziz reported.

Aleaziz adds DHS officials aren’t sure this is even legal.

Another DHS official had this to say:

“I’m concerned about the effect on the agency, both in morale and in direction this will take us, and I’m further concerned about the legality of the appointment.” https://t.co/OSzXyMtEY7

— Hamed Aleaziz (@Haleaziz) June 10, 2019

Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law is also calling in to question the legality of the appointment. He took to Twitter to make his case, saying Cuccinelli “doesn’t meet any of the criteria under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.”

I could be missing something, but by what statutory authority did the President purport to appoint Cuccinelli as Acting Director of USCIS? He doesn’t meet any of the criteria under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998:https://t.co/U3QpULJ4G3

(Paging @AJosephOConnell…) https://t.co/1OXNcFqGgR

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) June 10, 2019

Attorney George Conway retweeted Vladeck’s post:

Here’s a self-described lawyer calling the appointment illegal:

Who has standing to sue to stop Cuccinelli’s illegal appointment?

— Ed Darrell (@EdDarrell) June 10, 2019

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