good to be back. it s great to you have here. do you remember the name brandan van grek? as i have memorable name. if not, the circumstance of which you first heard it? but if you are like me and the first time you heard the name brandon van grabbing is the first time you heard the word he is spee naj formerly associated with the presidency of donald trump. espionage as in the espionage act, not just spy movie stuff, as in u.s. law. we were only about four months in to the trump administration when the new york times was first to report that the then brand new trump administration had made a very unusual hiring decision that ultimately implicated the work of a veteran espionage prosecutor at the u.s. department of justice. it was very early on. may 2017. you think about that for a second, trump was inaugurated at the end of january. this was less than four months later in may of that year, less than four months into his presidency, we learned of the new york times
at least you think. but this guy under consideration for that job, he came to the trump transition. he warned them about the fact he was under active federal investigation for that. and the trump transition, the incoming trump administration decided they would hire him anyway. they would hire him despite that. and that is how we got michael flynn as national security adviser for approximately five minutes while he was under investigation as potential foreign agent of the nation of turkey and before he started lying to federal investigators about his communications with the russian government. when we all read in the new york times in may 2017 that they had hired him anyway, even though they knew, even though they had been warned and we learned that the investigation into the matter is being led by veteran espionage prosecutor named brandon van grek. remember, just my stomach