Gen. Flynn and the domino effect

On Tuesday, Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, a U.S. senator and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for a full investigation into the ties between the Kremlin and President Trump and his administration.

That move came the day after Trump’s national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, resigned following reports he’d not been forthcoming about private conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States regarding sanctions President Obama put in place in response to Russia’s interference in the general election.

The revelations about Flynn are part of the latest evidence of the current administration’s troubling ties to Moscow. What’s further disturbing are reports that the president knew Flynn wasn’t being honest but continued to keep him in his employ. POTUS was informed of the situation last month by since-fired Attorney General Sally Yates, who worried Flynn was vulnerable to the Russians because they knew that he wasn’t being honest, including in conversations with Vice President Mike Pence.

We now know that Flynn was being investigated by both the FBI and CIA for his contacts with the Russians during the presidential campaign. In other words, there’s a possibility that one of Trump’s top aides was colluding with the Kremlin to get the billionaire real estate magnate elected.

But there’s more. It was only when the Washington Post broke the story about Flynn’s obfuscation that Trump took action and ostensibly, days later, called for his resignation. Disturbingly, the president appeared more concerned about who’d leaked the story to the Post.

Taking Blunt’s lead, more GOP members, including Majority Whip John Cornyn, the Senate’s second-highest-ranking Republican, is also on board with an investigation.

And finally, in Wednesday’s edition, The New York Times dropped the bombshell that communications intercepted by American intelligence agencies during the 2016 presidential campaign show that members of Trump’s campaign staff—including his one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort—had “repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials.”

Not even four weeks into the new presidency, the dominoes appear to be lining up for a strong case that Trump’s administration has dangerous ties to Russia. Stay tuned.