GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50 [at] gmail.com, @GarethPorter
Porter is an investigative journalist and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. His most recent piece is “Ignore the tough talk – Trump’s Iran policy will be much like Obama’s.”

He said today: “Flynn is a figure with a dark side, but hype regarding an ‘illegal’ meeting with Russian ambassador never made sense. I’m glad he’s gone, but the leaks hinting Logan Act treason should be recognized as ‘intelligence community’ political manipulation. The Logan Act is a dead letter and even if it were not, the facts of this case don’t support its application. If it would apply to anything recent, the Logan Act would apply to the letter organized by Tom Cotton regarding Iran in 2015, but hawk Cotton never paid any price.”

Glenn Greenwald tweets this morning: “In January, Chuck Schumer warned Trump not to criticize the intelligence community because of all the ways they have to destroy people.” See video in The Hill: “Schumer: Trump ‘really dumb’ for attacking intelligence agencies,” said Schumer: “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”