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The Obama appointees still inhabiting the bowels of the State and Justice Departments orchestrated the coup that brought down General Michael Flynn who quit as National Security Advisor only four weeks into Trump's term.
Waiting until their confirmations as secretary of state and defense, neither Tillerson nor Sessions have had the time to replace the Obama appointees. But, in the interregnum, the Obama operatives used the time to slit Flynn's throat, Washington style.
Flynn, anxious to head off Russian retaliation against U.S. sanctions, spoke with Moscow's Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak to assuage his concerns over the sanctions imposed in the wake of Russian intervention in Ukraine and Crimea. Because he did so before Trump took office - but after his own appointment - he ran afoul of established protocol.
The alert Obama-era wiretappers pounced, taping the conversation and leaking it to the media. Former Obama officials were quoted in the New York Times as saying that Flynn reassured the ambassador that Mr. Trump would adopt a more accommodating tone on Russia once in office. They said that Flynn urged Russia not to retaliate against any sanctions because an overreaction would make any future cooperation more complicated."
One Obama official said that "he appeared to leave the impression that it would be possible" to ease the U.S. sanctions under the new president.
Then the former Obama folks at the Justice Department chimed in, gratuitously warning the incoming president that there was a blackmail risk that Moscow might hold the fact of the conversation over Flynn's head as he served in office.
Finally, the former Obama folks at the Defense Department scrutinized a 2015 trip to Moscow by Flynn during which he received a payment to attend an anniversary celebration of a Kremlin operated TV station. The payment (it might have been a nominal gift of some sort) had to be reported because Flynn is a former general.
Essentially, the Obama team at State, Justice, and Defense acted as opposition researchers for Obama and the Democrats to frame the incoming National Security Advisor and leak his sins to the media.
Caught in the trap sprung by the Democratic operatives, Flynn, unfortunately doubled down and lied to VP Mike Pence, concealing the full extent of his conversation with the Russians. But never fear, the Obama minions helpfully provided the full text of the Flynn-Kislyak conversation that showed the former general had gone further in reassuring the Russians.
Once Flynn lied to the Vice President and Pence had gone out in public to defend him, a resignation was inevitable.
But the prospect of the political appointees in one administration using their powers and surveillance capabilities to bring about the resignation of a highly placed official in the incoming administration is, itself, a more alarming event than any perpetrated by Michael Flynn.
Dick Morris, who served as adviser to former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and former President Clinton, is the author of 16 books, including his latest, Screwed and Here Come the Black Helicopters.