Silencing a Critic

Two days after he won the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump met with President Obama in the Oval Office to discuss the transition to the new administration. Of the many issues Mr. Obama could have discussed with Mr. Trump during their 90-minute meeting, he mainly wanted to talk about two people. He told Mr. Trump that the two most dangerous men to be wary of were North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un—and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

Why was President Obama so concerned with General Flynn? The answer is alarming. And the way Obama treated Flynn gives a chilling picture of how he silences his critics and punishes his enemies.

How Flynn Became a Target

Many consider Michael Flynn an American hero. He is a decorated war veteran who has saved countless American lives. As an intelligence officer in the Army, he tracked down Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was good at his job, and President Obama nominated him as director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

In this new office, however, Flynn exposed how the Obama administration was failing to effectively fight the Islamic State and other enemies in the Middle East. He told colleagues that he felt like a lone voice warning that the United States was less safe from radical Islam than it had been before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Flynn also criticized Obama for failing to support the enemies of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, a strong ally of Iran. According to former Defense Intelligence Agency official Patrick Lang, “Flynn incurred the wrath of the White House by insisting on telling the truth about Syria. He thought truth was the best thing, and they shoved him out.” Flynn had been on the job for only two years when the Obama administration forced him into early retirement in August 2014.

But telling the truth about Syria was not the only thing that got General Flynn in trouble. He was well educated in intelligence-gathering techniques. This too unnerved Obama officials. They were conducting massive illegal spying operations on American citizens. They must have felt threatened, even after Obama had gained so much control of the spy agencies and the military, that a military hero with access to the intelligence would expose what they were doing. Clearly they were nervous about what Flynn might say, because about a year after forcing him to retire, they started to spy on him.

A former senior Treasury Department official told Star News Group that, starting in December 2015 and continuing well into 2017, Barack Obama’s Treasury regularly surveilled Flynn’s financial records and transactions. This was unlawful, but the Obama administration was obsessed with targeting this man.

And their activities grew still more extreme and lawless. Flynn was one of President Obama’s top enemies. The biggest reason, however, wasn’t his stance on Syria or his understanding of spying. It was that he was a vocal opponent of Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran.

Obama’s Iran Deal

The Obama administration implemented its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran on January 16, 2016. Under the terms of this agreement, the United States lifted oil and financial sanctions on Iran, while Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium beyond 3.67 percent.

To ensure the deal was completed, on January 17, the Obama administration airlifted $400 million in cash to pay Iran for the release of four innocent American hostages. This was nothing less than a ransom payment to a murderous terrorist regime! The U.S. also returned to Iran seven criminals who were imprisoned or facing charges, and also stopped seeking 14 Iranians who were on Interpol’s watch list. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cash payment was the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration agreed to pay Iran.

How can you explain America becoming the number one state sponsor of the number one state sponsor of terrorism?

America was funding Iran’s nuclear aspirations by secretly airlifting that cash payment in the middle of the night. One commentator said you could take that $400 million ransom money and buy four atomic bombs!

General Flynn had left the Obama administration 17 months before, and he was an outspoken critic of the deal. He wrote a 2016 book, The Field of Fight, describing correspondence between the Iranian government and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Apparently al Qaeda was working on chemical and biological weapons in Iran, but the Obama administration refused to declassify the proof.

Flynn also warned that the Russians were cooperating with the Iranians and would probably not help the U.S. fight radical Islamic terrorism. Still, the Obama administration agreed to let Russia export close to 130 tons of natural uranium to Iran—enough to make 10 nuclear bombs!

The whole message the Obama administration was peddling about the Iran deal was that it would prevent this radical Islamist regime from getting a nuclear bomb. Yet it colluded with Russia to give Iran 130 tons of uranium. How do you explain that? How could the American public be so ignorant as to allow such evil and disastrous foreign-policy decisions?

General Flynn condemned Iran as the “world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism” and criticized the Obama administration for cozying up to it. He advocated a strategy aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government.

Then General Flynn did something that made him an even greater enemy: He signed on to help with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. This prompted Obama’s fbi to open a counterintelligence investigation against Flynn in August 2016 in hopes of smearing him as a Russian agent.

Spying on Flynn

The people investigating Michael Flynn found nothing—no evidence of any wrongdoing. Internal messages from fbi employees later filed in court showed they had reservations about the probe; one called it a “nightmare.” They planned to close the case shortly after the 2016 election.

But then, after winning the election, President-elect Trump appointed Flynn as his national security adviser. So top fbi officials made sure the Flynn investigation stayed open. These officials needed a weapon against Flynn to keep him from discovering what Obama’s spymasters and the Justice Department had been doing.

Court filings in Flynn’s criminal case show that Peter Strzok texted an unnamed associate on January 4, 2017, “Hey if you haven’t closed razor, don’t do so yet.” Crossfire Razor was the code name for the Flynn probe. Strzok’s order was delivered at the behest of fbi leadership.

And when Flynn, in his capacity as incoming national security adviser, began speaking with representatives of foreign governments, Obama and his top brass were listening in.

Lee Smith explained this in an article for Tablet, “How Russiagate Began With Obama’s Iran Deal Domestic Spying Campaign.” “Why were officials from the [Obama] administration intercepting [Flynn’s] phone calls with the Russian ambassador?” he asked. “The answer is that Obama saw Flynn as a signal threat to his legacy, which was rooted in his July 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (jcpoa). Flynn had said long before he signed on with the Trump campaign that it was a catastrophe to realign American interests with those of a terror state. And now that the candidate he’d advised was the new president-elect, Flynn was in a position to help undo the deal” (May 20, 2020).

In other words, the smear campaign against Flynn had nothing to do with Russia. It was all about stopping Flynn from helping President Trump undo the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal.

Then came the infamous January 5, 2017, meeting in the Oval Office where Brennan, Comey, Clapper, Rice, Yates and Rogers briefed Obama and Biden regarding the election and Russian interference. Then came President Obama’s follow-on meeting with Biden, Comey, Rice and Yates.

The Justice Department has disclosed handwritten notes from Peter Strzok recounting what Comey had told him about this January 5 follow-on meeting. These notes show that Obama knew details about private conversations between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak discussing America’s policy in Syria, a UN Security Council resolution about Israel and other subjects. They also reveal that even Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, Comey’s boss, did not know these details. This shows that Obama personally directed this illegal investigation. Obama was personally overseeing the effort to take down Flynn.

You can see why people fear Barack Obama so much: If you cross him, he will come at you with a vengeance!

Strzok’s notes recount how Comey told Obama that Flynn’s phone calls looked legitimate and that Obama told Comey to “make sure you look at things and have the right people on it.” They also record that Vice President Biden brought up the Logan Act—an 18th-century law that forbids private citizens from discussing foreign policy with foreign governments. The law is likely unconstitutional, it has almost never been prosecuted, and it definitely does not apply to national security advisers for incoming presidential administrations. But it ended up being a key weapon against Flynn.

Seven days after the January 5 Oval Office meeting, the Washington Post’s David Ignatius published a story about Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador. He also specifically raised the nonissue of the Logan Act. How did the Post find out about Flynn’s phone calls? A “high-ranking” Obama official leaked the transcript to Ignatius, which is a felony.

Nevertheless, the Post article triggered the mainstream media and Democratic politicians to focus their attention on Flynn.

Obama administration officials told the public that Michael Flynn had illegally colluded with Russia. This was a brazen lie. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Flynn’s phone calls with the Russian ambassador. As another Washington Post reporter, Adam Entous, said in October 2017, the newsroom was told that Flynn was having conversations with Ambassador Kislyak, but they didn’t assign reporters to it because “[t]here’s no reason why he shouldn’t be having that conversation.”

Entous said that Ignatius could write about it because he was a columnist: “Unlike me as a news reporter, he was able to just throw this piece of red meat out there and just say, ‘There was this conversation. What was it about?’”

By getting a commentator to write about the Flynn phone calls, the outgoing Obama administration was igniting media attention and pressuring the incoming administration. Then they set the trap.

The way these government agents can slander and spy on a well-connected American hero like General Flynn shows what they could do to you if they disagreed with your political views.

The Perjury Trap

Flynn may not remember every detail of each phone call he had with the Russian ambassador. Obama’s agents, on the other hand, had transcripts and knew what he said better than he did.

The day after the January 12, 2017, Washington Post article, the media asked members of President-elect Trump’s staff about Flynn’s call, particularly about the topic of sanctions. Flynn told his co-workers that he didn’t remember discussing sanctions. On January 15, Vice President Mike Pence publicly stated that there had been no talk about economic sanctions between Flynn and the Russian ambassador. Pence said Flynn told him that neither sanctions nor the decision to expel diplomats came up on the call. Transcripts of the call, however, reveal that Flynn spoke to Kislyak about the expulsion of diplomats. But Pence did not have access to transcripts—and neither did Flynn.

Later, in 2020, John Ratcliffe declassified the Flynn transcripts. In all those transcripts, the word “sanction” appears once, and it was brought up by Ambassador Kislyak. The Federalist’s Sean Davis wrote: “The transcripts show that while Kislyak obliquely raised the issue of financial sanctions against certain Russian intelligence officials, Flynn himself never discussed the financial sanctions against Russian individuals and entities levied by the Obama administration. Instead, Flynn focused on preventing U.S. ‘tit-for-tat’ escalation following the Obama administration’s expulsion of Russian diplomats” (May 29, 2020).

On January 23, 2017, three days after the inauguration, the Washington Post ran an article titled “fbi Reviewed Flynn’s Calls With Russian Ambassador but Found Nothing Illicit.” There was nothing wrong with his phone calls and everyone knew it. But Obama’s agents pushed ahead with their plan to catch Flynn in a lie.

On January 24, the fbi sprang its trap. fbi Director Comey sent Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka to Flynn’s office at the White House to conduct an interview with Flynn, two days after he was appointed.

fbi Counterintelligence Chief Bill Priestap wrote a note to the fbi agents who were going to question Flynn, asking: “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Another note said they were trying to “get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act.”

Armed with the transcript of his phone calls, the agents invited themselves into Flynn’s office, pretending they were there on a more or less routine visit to check with him about reports in the media. They didn’t warn Flynn of what they were doing, as is normal protocol; they bypassed Justice Department and White House protocols.^[1]

Flynn denied having a conversation with Kislyak four weeks earlier about sanctions. The Obama agents characterized this omission as lying to the fbi and actively misleading members of the Trump administration. Some publicly speculated that Flynn would be susceptible to Russian blackmail because of the call.

On January 26, Sally Yates told President Trump’s counsel that Flynn made statements to them about sanctions that were untrue. Flynn continued to publicly state that he did not discuss sanctions. Then on February 9, the Washington Post wrote about the content of Flynn’s phone calls. Citing unnamed “current and former officials,” the Post reported that Flynn “privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials ….” Not only was this narrative bogus, but disclosing this information to the press was illegal.

This article embarrassed the Trump White House and led to Michael Flynn’s forced resignation on February 13. He was ousted after only 22 days in office, much to the relief of Obama’s deep state. This was not because of anything he said to the Russian ambassador, but because he made Vice President Pence look uninformed or duplicitous for having said what he did about the phone call. The Obama administration holdovers were actively trying to sow chaos in the incoming administration. They achieved their goal, convincing the public that Flynn was trying to cover up some sinister crime with Russian agents. The media loved that story! And they ignored the information about why Flynn was ousted, though the records are all available publicly.

Over three years later, in May 2020, the Justice Department dropped its case against Flynn after court documents revealed the case was a setup. Flynn’s prosecutors admitted that the fbi’s interview of General Flynn was “unjustified” and was not “conducted with a legitimate investigative basis.” Attorney General William Barr said the fbi’s investigation laid “a perjury trap for General Flynn.”

But the damage was done. Rather than serving the Trump administration, Flynn was entangled in spurious litigation for years.

This whole disgraceful episode was orchestrated by Barack Obama to protect the Iran nuclear deal.

More Lies

On May 12, 2017, Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos asked Joe Biden what he knew about the Flynn investigation. He dogmatically stated, “I know nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn.” But then he was pressed about his role in the January 5 meeting. He revised his answer, saying, “I thought you asked me on whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. I was aware that … they had asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it.”

Peter Strzok’s handwritten notes have since revealed both statements to be lies. It was Biden who brought up the Logan Act as a possible means of prosecuting General Flynn. The Democrats act like such lies are nothing to be concerned about.

Lying is the modus operandi of these Obama-era officials. They lie as a way of life!

Andrew McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee to condemn Flynn for the lies he supposedly told. McCabe, however, was later caught lying by Horowitz about his involvement in leaking information about the fbi’s Clinton Foundation investigation to the Wall Street Journal.^[2]

McCabe is willing to do whatever Barack Obama wants him to do. That is how all these people attached to Obama behave. They are still calling American hero Michael Flynn a clandestine agent of Russia. These officials have been repeatedly exposed for such deception. They believe it is right to lie when it advances their agenda and is for an “important purpose.” They have no fixed principles. And very few will hold them to account!

This is what the power of Satan and his Antiochus will do. It is frightening.

America’s Constitution was made to rule a moral, self-governing people, a well-informed people who will hold their leaders to a high moral standard. Ignorant people can never make our Constitution work. The ignorance of the American people regarding what is happening here is disastrous.

A Mystery?

Lee Smith wrote a book titled The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History. He is an expert on how Obama and his colleagues tried to frame Donald Trump, Michael Flynn and others for crimes they did not commit.

Still, Smith does not understand why Barack Obama so vehemently supported Iran. “It’s not hard to see why the previous president [Obama] went after Flynn: The retired general’s determination to undo the Iran deal was grounded in his own experience in two Middle Eastern theaters of combat, where he saw how Iran murdered Americans and threatened American interests,” he writes. “But why Obama would choose the Islamic Republic as a partner and encourage tactics typically employed by Third World police states remains a mystery.”

This is a mystery to a sharp analyst like Lee Smith. Almost all Americans are mystified by or oblivious to it. But the Bible reveals this mystery. And those who do see it have an obligation to speak out!

The Mystery Explained

Remember the satanic goal explained in the prophecy of 2 Kings 14:26-27 to “blot out the name of Israel from under heaven.” Iran’s mullahs publicly say they want to “wipe Israel off the map.” That is another way of saying they want to “blot out the name of Israel from under heaven”! Why in the world would an American president align with these murderers? Why permit Russia to give Iran 130 tons of uranium? And why implement a deal that virtually guarantees Iran becomes a nuclear power?

This prophetic passage in 2 Kings 14 explains. President Obama shares the goal to “blot out the name of Israel”!

The Iranians may not know that the Americans are literal descendants of ancient Israel, but they do label America “the great Satan” and the Jewish state “the little Satan.” They want to blot these nations out! And through his Iran nuclear deal, Barack Obama was helping them accomplish this goal. He was implying, You blot out the Jews, and we’ll blot out America. We’ll “blot out the name of Israel from under heaven” by transforming America into a socialist state its founders wouldn’t recognize. He wants to destroy everything good in America because everything good in this nation traces back to God, the God of Israel. Spiritually, he wants to wipe out the faith of Israel—just like the Iranian mullahs want to wipe Israel off the map.

This is what Lee Smith does not understand. Obama decided to “choose the Islamic Republic as a partner” and to use “tactics typically employed by Third World police states” because he wants to blot out both the Jewish state and America! Like the ancient Seleucid King Antiochus, he is empowered by the devil to destroy the people of Israel through flattery and deceits that lead to violence.

Any man who tries to blot out the name of Israel is a type of Antiochus.

Had God not intervened to save America “by the hand” of Donald Trump, then America’s republic would have been blotted out—and Iran’s theocracy would probably have a nuclear weapon!

What Kind of Man Is This?

Daniel’s prophecy provides more details about what sort of man this Antiochus is. History also supplies important insight.

Daniel 11:21 says this leader obtained rule through deceitful lies and flatteries. He was a smooth talker and had a compelling personality. George Rawlinson’s A Manual of Ancient History says, “Antiochus, assisted by Eumenes, drives out Heliodorus, and obtains the throne, 176 b.c. He astonishes his subjects by an affectation of Roman manners.” Anciently, Antiochus Epiphanes gained control by pretending to be someone he wasn’t. He was a master deceiver. The same is true in this end time.

We must always beware of the devil for this reason: He comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Antiochus iv was called Antiochus “Epiphanes,” or “God manifest.” That is not a good sign. In his later years as he amassed more power, Antiochus grew more evil and maniacal. Seleucid coins minted during his reign actually show a progression into madness. Early in his rule, coins had his portrait and the words “King Antiochus”; this was normal. Later on, his portrait on coins featured a star on his forehead, implying divinity. Toward the end of his reign, as he adopted divine honors, coins were labeled “King Antiochus, Epiphanes,” or “King Antiochus God,” and his portrait was idealized into a depiction of the Greek god Apollo, with rays emanating from his head like a crown of light. He was the first Greek king to be thus represented. The last coins in his reign depict him as Zeus, with the label “King Antiochus, God Manifest, Victory-bearer.”

Antiochus really believed he was God manifest. That is a frightening belief! This egotistical claim was inspired by the devil. Antiochus became Satan-possessed (Isaiah 14:12-14). Satan had a grip on him and moved him to exact some of the worst evil ever done to the Jewish people.

Polybius, a Greek historian contemporary with Antiochus, wrote in his book The Histories, “King Antiochus was both energetic, daring in design, and worthy of the royal dignity.” This was a rare compliment from a man who otherwise described Antiochus as insane. We don’t have Polybius’s complete work, but another Greek historian, Athenaeus of Naucratis, who did, wrote, “Polybius, in the 26th book of his Histories, calls him [Antiochus iv] Epimanes (‘Insane’) and not Epiphanes (‘Illustrious’) because of his acts.” Polybius used wordplay on the title Antiochus gave himself to describe him as insane. He also said Antiochus “was smitten with madness.”

Why did he call Antiochus “insane”? “Because of his acts”—his deeds, his fruits. Polybius judged him by what he did, not what he said.

Just imagine what this means for us today. These modern-day Antiochus figures are certainly to be feared. Viewed spiritually, Satan himself is insane! He is the opposite of God and smitten with madness!

The Devil’s Fingerprints

We must be able to recognize the devil’s fingerprints on what was taking place with Michael Flynn. As Jesus Christ said of the devil, there is no truth in him—none! And the radical left lie like the devil. That is the spirit behind these people who will say and do anything to accomplish their goals. The way they worked to destroy the life of Michael Flynn, an upstanding American patriot, is chilling proof. They will stop at nothing to take over the government and align America with the government of Iran and other tyrannical states. Every time they are challenged on anything illegal they have done, they lie—over and over and over again.

Yet still, when people ask them a question, somehow, no matter how outrageous the answer, they believe them! The spirit of deception is frighteningly deep. These people are influenced by the devil!

Christ also said in John 8:44 that Satan was a murderer “from the beginning.” The very first human child grew up to become a murderer: Cain. That first murder in human history was inspired by the devil. Consider that! It vividly shows what a deceitful and murderous influence Satan was and is.

The brazen spirit of the radical leftists isn’t just politics or even ideology: It is the spirit of Satan the devil. That is the spirit motivating the moral, cultural, social, institutional and political destruction of this country.

Satan’s real goal is not merely to attack a certain man or even a nation. He is attacking everything of God!

The real enemy is not Barack Obama. Obama’s efforts to “blot out Israel” do not come from a man—but from Satan the devil!

Why aren’t the media sounding the alarm about what is happening? Because they too are deeply complicit in this treasonous activity.

But despite all the power that radical leftists have over government and the media, somehow the truth keeps coming out. It is coming out not because of Republicans or even because of Donald Trump. What you need to realize is that God is causing the truth to emerge. He is giving all of us a good look at the truth. Can you recognize it?

Continue Reading: Chapter 7: America Has No Helper