Trump, Flynn, and flipping the script on Russia

From the outset, Donald Trump viewed the Russia affair as an attack aimed at him.

In December 2016, when then-President Barack Obama expelled Russian diplomats in response to Moscow’s meddling in the United States election, President-elect Trump felt personally slighted, according to his first chief of staff, Reince Priebus.

“The President-elect viewed the sanctions as an attempt by the Obama Administration to embarrass him by delegitimizing his election,” Mr. Priebus told investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller, according to Mr. Mueller’s final report.

Now, with the Mueller report over a year old and another election looming, President Trump appears to have launched a concerted attempt to undermine the foundation of the Russia probe and cement in history his vision of the investigation as a long, underhanded strike against his presidency.

President Trump’s repeated tweets about “Obamagate” – a vague, unfounded charge that his predecessor orchestrated a spying conspiracy – are part of this effort. Central to its narrative is the saga of Michael Flynn, the Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Mueller investigation.

Under Attorney General Bill Barr, the Department of Justice recently announced it wants to drop its case against Mr. Flynn, an extraordinary move considering that his prosecution is essentially over. The president has hailed the decision as “justice” and proof that the entire Russia investigation was thin as tissue, nothing but a scheme of the “deep state.”