Adding more smoke to the raging inferno surrounding the Trump presidential campaign’s connections to Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that a “longtime Republican opposition researcher” worked with Michael Flynn to obtain hacked Hillary Clinton emails.
The report indicates that the activities took place before the 2016 election and that Peter Smith – the GOP operative seeking to get his hands on the emails – and Flynn’s consulting company “were allies” in the effort.
At the time, Flynn was a senior adviser to then-nominee Trump.
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Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers.
In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he was working with retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, at the time a senior adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.
“He said, ‘I’m talking to Michael Flynn about this—if you find anything, can you let me know?’†said Eric York, a computer-security expert from Atlanta who searched hacker forums on Mr. Smith’s behalf for people who might have access to the emails.
Emails written by Mr. Smith and one of his associates show that his small group considered Mr. Flynn and his consulting company, Flynn Intel Group, to be allies in their quest.
The report goes on to say that if the GOP operative did, in fact, work with Flynn, it would have been in a private capacity and in no way connected to the Trump campaign – even though Flynn was one of Trump’s closest advisers and Trump himself asked the Russians to hack Clinton’s emails during the campaign.
The White House has refused to comment on the development – shocker.
Given the fact that Flynn was one of Trump’s closest advisers during the campaign and in the White House – and even after Trump knew Flynn was lying about his connections to Russia – it’s becoming incredibly hard to believe that the president had no idea what his closest confidantes were up to.
After several weeks of in which Trump hoped the Russia scandal was being overshadowed by the disastrous GOP health plan, the Wall Street Journal report is proof that the Russian-sized cloud over the Trump White House isn’t going anywhere.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
