Tuned into the Yates hearing for a whole 2 minutes thus far, and thus far Yates has had to correct Lindsey 5 times for calling the Kislyak intercept an investigation.

Now Lindsey repeating claims that DOJ and others have made that are entirely made up, including that the investigation into Flynn was "dropped," and that there was still a CI investigation.

Reminder: A key Senate staffer, Barbara Ledeen, was personally implicated in the Russian operation, as was her spouse Michael.

So whether or not Lindsey is dumb or cynical, he's also being advised by someone who is not only a friend of Flynn's, but also has personal exposure, and she's probably not telling Lindsey that she herself sold out the country.

Yates makes the point that he was coordinating his Russian call with KT McFarland. Significantly, she lied about it at first. And JUST THE OTHER DAY, DOJ covered up her lies in a FOIA response to @JasonLeopold.

DiFi: Why was Flynn's underlying conduct problematic.

Yates: Neutering sanctions on a foreign adversary trying to intervene, Flynn recognized it himself, he didn't write down convos with Kislyak, bc he knew they'd be viewed as interfering w/Obama policy.

Yates: If General Flynn didn't think he was doing anything problematic, he wouldn't have anything to cover up.

Yep.

And if Barr didn't need to KEEP covering it up, he wouldn't have overturned the prosecution.

It's really cute that Yates is calling Oz "Friendly Foreign Govt" still, after all the declassification Ric Grenell did.

Yates notes that what Papadopoulos was told "actually happened."

That's what frothers like to ignore.

Note, DOJ at least USED TO believe that Stone got advanced warning even of the Guccifer part of the operation.

DiFi: DOJ motion highly irregular?

Yates: Prosecutor for 35 years, never seen filing like this. No issue with materiality, no problem with proving the case.

Grassley: You reviewed Page in entirety?

Yates: Reviewed all factual information.

Grassley: Why didn't you act to find out conflicts regarding Steele?

Yates: Even FBI didn't know who employed Steele. We were concerned. Logic would tell you.

Your periodic reminder that @ChuckGrassley has never given one lick of concern about the investigation into Hillary Clinton predicated off of Bannon-funded oppo research. That one leaked, and it was investigated by biased Agents running informants.

Yates again going over that the Jan 5 meeting was not about an investigation. This was about NatSec implications of continuing to share info with Gen Flynn after he neutered sanctions.

Grassley asking for the millionth time whether Steele came up in meetings he has been told it didn't come up a million times before.

Grassley now misstating what the released docs show.

FBI was going to close investigation starting in Nov. Strzok did NOT intervene to reopen--he was ordered to. And, as Yates keeps saying, the interview would be okay anyway, bc of CH.

Leahy reminds that Trump himself said Flynn lied. Why advise McGahn that Flynn had been lying to multiple people including VP. You supported informing WH.

Do you believe Flynn effectively compromised?

Leahy: Did Flynn undercut our response to Russia?

Yates: I do. When Flynn was essentially saying, never mind on those sanctions, that doesn't send message that we want them to stay out of our elections.

Leahy: Is it entrapment to give indiv opportunity to tell the truth?

Yates: Here agents even took extra step of tried to help trigger his memory, sometimes even using the exact language he used. You don't generally try to help them out like that.

Leahy: Barr claimed untethered to any legit investigation. Do you agree?

Yates: Absolutely. Most urgent thing was to notify WH, interviewing him was part of investigation.