by Mary Ann McGivern
In the middle of his press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump complained that because of illegal leaks the career of a fine man, Gen. Michael Flynn, was destroyed. How about because Flynn lied about the content of his conversation with the Russian ambassador and allowed the vice president to repeat that lie to us, the people?
There's so much to write about, so much to complain about in the current political scene. I haven't heard complaints about Trump's complaints. It would seem to be the fact that it was Flynn's bad behavior that was leaked is too fine a point for mention. But the leakers performed a public service.
Same with Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Their leaks revealed inconsistencies in military operations and illegal internal spying on U.S. citizens, respectively. President Barack Obama didn't like that either, but under his watch the behavior of the spy agencies changed. And Trump, because of the latest leaks, has a national security advisor who resigned after less than a month on the job.
Another word for these leakers is whistle blowers. I think Obama treated them harshly, and Obama was wrong (though he did commute Manning's sentence before leaving office). I think Trump is both wrong and blind. We are lucky that Flynn's lying cover-up was leaked.
To whoever blew the whistle on Flynn, I am grateful.
