Former top Obama Homeland Security official and “Security Mom” author Juliette Kayyem appeared on Don Lemon’s CNN program this weekend and made an astounding claim: former Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn had flipped against the administration and cut a deal with the FBI.
That claim flew around social media all day yesterday and continues to be circulated, despite the fact that Kayyem quickly backtracked on it.
Now if anyone is to blame for making this now seemingly false claim go viral it’s Kayyem herself, as she is the one who posted the video of her making the claim on CNN to her Twitter account.
From my sources and what has been openly reported, it increasingly looks like #Flynn may have a deal with the FBI. #trumprussia pic.twitter.com/U0PHdexlFV
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) March 25, 2017
One of the first to jump on board to push out her inflammatory claim was Huffington Post contributor Seth Abramson, who invoked his own legal background to lend credence to Kayyem’s story:
(1) First, as an attorney I want to make clear that, if this @CNN analyst’s sources are correct, the #Russiagate scandal is blown wide open.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 25, 2017
Then Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe jumped in:
#Flynn struck a deal with FBI by flipping on #Trump. #Nunes‘s blood is now in the water. https://t.co/jk5aEf19Jr
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 26, 2017
Next, left-wing blogs pushed the story out:
CNN analyst: Sources say Mike Flynn has turned on Trump and become a witness for the FBI https://t.co/e0af4bKGgT pic.twitter.com/zLQp8cbrGK
— Raw Story (@RawStory) March 26, 2017
Needless to say, there were some skeptics:
How would Juliette Kayyem know anything?
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) March 25, 2017
With the sensational story making the full rounds on social media Kayyem then backtracked, posting the following “clarification” on Facebook:
https://twitter.com/alimhaider/status/845809280863358979
Of particular note was this line:
But, to be clear, I did not say on this segment that I have any confirmation that he is actually cooperating or that I have talked to anyone who does.
Having rolled out the rumor rug, Kayyem pulled it out from underneath everyone hyping her claim.
Note that in her tweet pushing out the Don Lemon segment where she made the claim, she invoked “her sources.” As mentioned above, if anyone was responsible for pushing out misleading or intentionally misdirecting anyone, it was Kayyem herself.
Distraught supporters then began their own walkbacks, beginning with Seth Abramson:
(2) Now one yet has (or has claimed to have) _confirmation_ of whether Flynn is working with the FBI to take down other #Russiagate targets.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 26, 2017
One wonders about the timing of all this, as a full day had passed for the story to fully circulate in time for the Sunday morning news talk shows. Will anyone invoke Kayyem’s claim despite her walkback? We’ll see.
As I noted last month, immediately following Mike Flynn’s resignation as Trump’s national security adviser, the stories that had dogged him and led to his departure quickly came apart.
Media's Flynn-Russia Narrative Quickly Collapsing as FBI Reportedly Clears Former National Security Adviser https://t.co/vDYL6H66EQ
— Patrick Poole (@pspoole) February 16, 2017
Namely, that the FBI had no intention of charging Flynn.
More: FBI says Flynn was cooperative and provided truthful answers
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 15, 2017
The FBI does not believe Michael Flynn will face legal jeopardy, sources tell @PeteWilliamsNBC https://t.co/EFCX1875Wc pic.twitter.com/74BMFmoCkY
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 15, 2017
So what exactly Flynn would be cutting a deal with the FBI over is far from clear.
It should be noted that Kayyem, a former Obama administration official, has been actively hyping Trump-Russia conspiracy theories.
All of these distractions won't change the fact that the Russia story will not go away. @realDonaldTrump cannot pivot away from this. @CNN pic.twitter.com/dtxJdVE646
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) March 5, 2017
2 theories: WH gave Nunes info or it was false flag op and Nunes acted as FBI feared (my vote). Details in brilliant piece cut both ways. https://t.co/9mQVuNjuTZ
— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) March 25, 2017
And she has been given to making incendiary statements, such as appearing on CNN during the 2014 Ferguson riots and calling Mike Brown’s death “a murder”:
‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Never Happened, But Networks Keep Using It http://t.co/hwKhGCVCQj
— MediaResearchCenter (@theMRC) June 1, 2015
And her terrorism analysis could be charitably described as “suspect,” as when she declared on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that “the war on terrorism is over” or pronounced the death of Al-Qaeda in 2012 (it’s still very much alive and thriving):
In today's Opinion page, Globe columnist @juliettekayyem writes: "Al Qaeda still exists but is lifeless." http://t.co/oGkX5smL
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) May 3, 2012
Given this current episode of her passing Harvard parlor-room gossip as breaking news and indulging in Trump-Russia fantasies, perhaps the followup book to her “Security Mom” should be “Manchurian Mom.”
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