Puppet master and puppet

Drip, drip, drip:

Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters.

And this is normal.

Conversations between Flynn and Kislyak accelerated after the Nov. 8 vote as the two discussed establishing a back channel for communication between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass the U.S. national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations, four current U.S. officials said.

Let’s repeat that: A back channel to bypass U.S. national security bureaucracy. Which has a parallel in Trump’s bypassing American media while allowing Russian media inside the Oval Office, when he met with Kislyak and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. The day after he fired FBI Director James Comey. A meeting at which he disclosed to the Russians classified intelligence that was so sensitive it hadn’t even been shared with the United States’ closest allies. Classified intelligence that came from a source whose importance cannot be overstated:

The classified information that President Donald Trump shared with Russian officials last week came from an Israeli source described by multiple U.S. officials as the most valuable source of information on external plotting by Islamic State. These officials, who are privy to intelligence about the terrorist group’s efforts, said the source of information was particularly valuable for tracking Islamic State’s attempts to place explosive devices on commercial airplanes.

It’s almost as if there’s a pattern here.