The Scene
The scene was on Friday, December 18th, 2020 in the Oval Office in the West Wing of the White House, Washington, DC. Snow was on the ground outside the ballistic windows, and Christmas lights on the trees beyond the fencing. The faint echo of a madrigal choir, singing in the main lobby of the West Wing in front of the massive Christmas tree could be heard.
The President was behind the large oaken desk. Made from the timbers of the British Ship HMS Resolute, it was a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria. Armless straight-backed chairs, accentuating the lesser status of those sitting in them were arranged around the desk. The President himself was hunched uncomfortably in his $5000 Gunlocke-Washington chair. He sat behind the imposing desk, not interested in the Christmas activities or much of anything else. He was angry, depressed, and desperate.
General Flynn
Three subordinates sat in those straight-backed chairs . The first, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Flynn was one of the first “high profile” supporters of the President six years ago. He had a storied career: rising to prominence in the Army, and becoming Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under a previous Administration. But Flynn’s unwillingness to adhere to policy led to charges of insubordination; he was fired from his post and after thirty-three years forcibly retired from the Army he loved.
He then went on a quest for fortune, working as an intelligence consultant for several corporations. But the real money was in advising foreign nations about US strategy, and ultimately lobbying for them with the US government. Flynn had multiple links to the Russian government earning hundred of thousands of dollars. But the biggest money came from Turkey. They used Flynn’s skills and classified knowledge to attack Turkish government opponents in the US.
With the success of Donald Trump’s candidacy for President, Flynn latched on as a senior foreign policy advisor. What he didn’t advice Trump was about his personal links to Russia and Turkey. And when Trump surprisingly won the election of 2016, Flynn became National Security Advisor, despite several warnings to Trump from the Obama Administration.
Flynn’s Lie
Prior to Trump’s inauguration, Flynn had conversations with the Russian Ambassador, encouraging him to ignore Obama Administration actions. FBI agents interviewed him about the multiple phone conversations. Flynn lied to them, despite knowing that the agents already had direct transcripts of the calls. Why did Flynn lie?
Perhaps it was simply hubris: thinking that the FBI would never charge a serving National Security Advisor. Or, perhaps it was the misguided view that the FBI “was on his side”, and would overlook the felony.
Flynn also lied to the Vice President and other senior White House officials. He was forced to resign, and ultimately charged with lying to Federal agents. He twice pled guilty to the charges, and made a deal with prosecutors to help with further investigations of the Trump campaign. But Flynn ultimately reneged on the deal, and after years of legal maneuvering, was pardoned by President Trump.
The Lawyers
Also in the straight-backed chairs were two attorneys. The first, Sidney Powell, was Flynn’s current legal counsel. She is a conspiracy theorist; recently fired from Trump’s post-election legal team for claiming that long-dead Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez rigged the 2020 election. She also told Georgia voters not to show up for the January 5th Senate election, since she believed the entire election system was corrupt. Powell was the reason for Flynn’s change of heart with Federal Prosecutors. Rumor had it that she was so sure of a Presidential pardon that she persuaded Flynn to remain silent about other Administration and campaign actions. She was right.
The other attorney was former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He represents the President in ongoing legal actions to invalidate the 2020 election results, claiming widespread election fraud. But he met with a long series of court defeats, accompanied by public relations disasters. This included Giuliani holding a press conference in the parking lot of a sex shop, bringing a seemingly drunk witness to a hearing, and hair dye streaking down the side of his face while speaking to the press. You couldn’t make it up.
Change the Votes
Their conversation was simple: how to overturn the legal results of the 2020 election. While Biden won by over six million votes in the popular election, the margin in the Electoral College was much narrower. A change of a mere 45,050 votes over three key states; Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, would reverse the Electoral College and result in a tie. That tie would put the decision to the House of Representatives, where voting by one vote per state, they would re-elect the President.
The Trump campaign already challenged the vote count in each of those states. Georgia recounted their votes three times, including a literal hand count of each ballot. In Wisconsin, the Trump campaign paid three million dollars to recount votes in two key Democratic counties. And in Arizona, where Republicans controlled all of the election counting mechanisms, re-counts and political pressure didn’t change the outcome. The votes of November elected Joe Biden.
And of the over fifty court actions filed, none were successful in changing that outcome. All were appealed, and a few reached the US Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court denied each. Even Trump’s own appointees on the Court refused to hear them. There seemed to be no way forward.
Trump’s Card
But Trump still had one last card to play. 74 million voters chose Trump in the 2020 election, the second most votes ever earned. And of those 74 million, a majority believes that Trump’s election defeat was as a result of corruption. That means that almost 40 million Americans believe that the 2020 election was stolen, and many are waiting for Trump’s word to take action.
Flynn had a plan to delay the Electoral College results. He advised the President to declare an insurrection due to election fraud in the three critical states, and use the military to seize the voting machines. Then there could be a “do-over”, where the only form of voting would be through the machines. The mail-in vote, which overwhelmingly went to Biden, would be wiped out, ostensibly in the name of “election security”. The outcome would be different. If only election day polling is allowed Trump will win the margins needed to take the Electoral College.
Posse Comitatus
And there was precedent for Flynn’s action. Federal troops were stationed in the former Confederate states During the Reconstruction Era. Those troops guaranteed the 15th Amendment right of the freed slaves to vote, as well as preventing unrepentant Confederates from participating in the process. For the ten years after the Civil War, Federal troops in blue patrolled the electoral process. It was only the political deal to end Reconstruction in 1877 that removed the troops and allowed those states to regain control of the voting process. As part of the deal, Federal troops were forbidden to go back into any states again under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
So under “Posse Comitatus” how could Flynn propose to send in troops? An even older law, the Insurrection Act of 1807, allows the President to proclaim an “insurrection”, and then send in Federal troops to control it. The Federal troops would be “authorized” to both seize the election machinery, and hold a “substitute” election. And who would lead these troops into the electoral “battle space”? The recently retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn; recalled to active duty.
Post Script
Is this a movie plot, or a proposed series for Netflix?
It’s reported that an actual conversation took place in the Oval Office with those participants. Sources report that the general conversation of declaring “insurrection” occurred, and that others joined the discussion, including White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Those same sources state the meeting degenerated into shouting and yelling, as Cipollone and Meadows pushed back against the plan.
And we know that at that same meeting, Mr. Trump considered appointing Ms. Powell as a Special White House Counsel to investigate Election fraud. He wanted to give her special security clearances.
Today is Tuesday – and while reporting indicates that the “cooler heads” of Cipollone and Meadows prevailed – we don’t really know. Internet conspiracy rumors put the day of the “insurrection” declaration as December 24th, two days from today.
The Vice President is scheduled to leave the country on January 6th, hours after the Congress officially declares the Electoral College winner.
It’s not over, until noon on January 20th. Only when Joe Biden takes the official oath of office, can we be sure that Donald Trump won’t try to overturn the results of the election, and with it, our Democracy.
