Flynn also acted as paid agent to Turkey during Trump campaign

Earlier this week, former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department for lobbying work linked to Turkey during the Trump campaign. The Foreign Agent Registration Act requires that U.S. citizens lobbying on behalf of foreign governments disclose their connections for some pretty obvious reasons. It is a standard practice in Washington, D.C. The fact that Flynn was the top national security adviser to a presidential candidate at the time he was simultaneously representing a foreign country—and en route to becoming the president’s National Security Adviser—is not so standard. Particularly, given the criticism of Trump team's ties to Russia and beyond.

The logical next question is: Did President Trump and/or members of his team know that they had hired someone who was being paid to represent another country’s interests? The answer appears to be yes. The Associated Press reported Friday that Flynn’s attorneys twice disclosed his Turkish ties to the Trump team after the campaign was over and Flynn's consulting work was completed. One disclosure occured during the transition and then another took place in the early days of the administration. At least one of those disclosures, during the transition, was to now-White House counsel Don McGahn. In both instances, the transition team and then the administration did not appear to take the issue seriously enough to take it to the president.

Jules wrote:It could well be that some world leaders have a team of support staff who  deliberately keep things from him, knowing there are instances when he is not equipped with the wisdom, temperament or patience to handle a particular issue properly. They inform him of things on a strictly need-to-know basis.


This team usually has far more collective wisdom and experience than the leader himself and they may have served under previous administrations. This system not only protects the ordinary citizens, it protects the leader himself, cos in his defence  he could always say ''my team did not make this or that known to me''.