"The most common explanation for the 'small-potatoes' plea that Flynn got away with, given what he's already admitted to, is that he's providing the commission with much additional useful info, and some sort of plea agreement was made."
It was, Janet - check the plea documents at the link I supplied:
http://www.lawfareblog.com/michael-flynn-plea-agreement-documents
The third one down is labeled "Plea Agreement", and basically says that Flynn will sing like a canary in exchange for other possible charges against him not being brought. If he stops cooperating, the hammer comes down.
That, along with the emails that the NYT released yesterday, seems to indicate that this thing is just starting to heat up and that there is more than just a little truth to the "fake news" Trump & Co. have been gaslighting us about. It's now pretty clear that the transition team was well aware of what Flynn was doing and that he wasn't acting as a "rogue agent" - someone was directing his actions. Although his plea agreement mentions several unnamed "very senior officials", I suspect Mueller already has those names and is just trying to solidify his case against them before he pulls the trigger.
And "collusion", whether or not it exists in this case, is not a crime - the charge would be "conspiracy against the United States"...
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