From the first Morning Jolt of the week:
Is Trump’s Veep Pick In Like Flynn?Is Trump’s Veep Pick In Like Flynn?
Our Eliana Johnson reports on seven political figures who were sent the documents for vetting to be Donald Trump’s running mate. Five still in consideration are New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, former Defense Intelligence Agency Director and retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst did not complete their forms and publicly withdrew as potential options. Eliana adds her sources say that there may have been other figures sent the forms, but those seven definitely did. For what it’s worth, former Trump staffer Sam Nunberg affirms there are more, but won’t name names.
Most of these are the most frequently-mentioned names. Flynn seems to be getting a lot of buzz lately; he has a fortuitously-timed book about radical Islam coming out.
If you want to talk about a figure who can indict the previous administration with force and credibility, Flynn might be the best pick:
In a sane world, this sort of thing would spur serious impeachment talk:
President Barack Obama’s former top military intelligence official said Tuesday that the White House ignored reports prefacing the rise of ISIS in 2011 and 2012 because they did not fit their re-election “narrative.”
“I think that they did not meet a narrative the White House needed. And I’ll be very candid with you, they just didn’t,” retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.”
Flynn, who has been critical of both Obama and former President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq War and involvement in the Middle East, said that Obama was served poorly by a small circle of advisers who were worried about his re-election prospects at the time. The story they needed to tell, he said, was that pulling troops from Iraq would not leave the region vulnerable to rise of a radical Islamic group like ISIS.
“I think the narrative was that al Qaeda was on the run, and (Osama) bin Laden was dead . . . they’re dead and these guys are, we’ve beaten them,” Flynn said, but the problem was that despite how many terrorist leaders they killed they “continue to just multiply.”
Marine general Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers at a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that “we have not contained” ISIS and that “I don’t believe the campaign [against ISIS] was fully resourced since 2010.”
Here’s one giant stumbling block: Flynn appears to be pro-choice, judging from his answer on ABC’s This Week: “I think women have to be able to choose…sort of, the right of choice. They are the ones that have to make the decision because they’re the ones that are going to decide to bring up that child or not.”
You can imagine how pro-lifers are greeting this answer; Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List declared, “General Flynn has disqualified himself from consideration as Vice President. His pro-abortion position is unacceptable and would undermine the pro-life policy commitments that Mr. Trump has made throughout the campaign.”
What are the odds of a terror attack in the United States between now and November? ISIS-inspired Islamists have launched four terror attacks on American soil in the past 13 months: Garland, Texas; Chattanooga, Tennessee; San Bernardino, California and Orlando, Florida. If you think there’s going to be an attack, and that the issue of protecting Americans from terrorists at home and abroad is going to be the preeminent issue in the election in the closing weeks, then picking Flynn might make the most sense.