Fanis the Bodyguard Episode 50 Sunlight for FLynn

                The world is beginning to open up after two months of a global pandemic.  Kera and her cousin Fanis are in her flat in London.  Both were born and raised in America but given that Kera is an international Chinese art dealer, she found it more convenient to be based out of London.  Despite people getting restless at home, the openings were very cautious and done sector by sector as many were still afraid to go outside. 

                Fanis was very in tune to current events and was against the shut down from the start.  Given that he was a bodyguard so risking his life was an everyday occurrence for him, he may not be the best judge of the threat assessment.  Kera could tell by his expression that he was angry.  She asked her cousin and bodyguard, “Why do you watch that stuff if you know it’s going to piss you off?”

                “It’s not right!  The onus should be for the government to prove you’re not essential not the other way around.”

                “Yes, I get that but that’s not what’s happening.  Things are about to open up again so in a couple months it’ll all be a memory.”

                “No, the people that have been killed by this for substance abuse and depression will still have the effects.  Not everyone furloughed will be hired back.  Stores may be forced to keep closed because it was too long and they couldn’t pay their bills.  It’s not a light switch.  Not to mention, all the money the government spent with no production leads to massive inflation.”

                “I’ve been hearing you say that shit for two months.  I get it!”

                “That’s the other thing.  You know how many marriages are breaking up because of this?  How much more domestic abuse because people don’t get a break from their spouses or their kids.”

                “You really have a high opinion of families I see.” She responded sarcastically. 

                “Yes, In fact I do.  Like this Texas woman named Shelly Luther.  She got arrested for opening her hair salon.”

                “Well, they only opened restaurants in Texas”

                “She didn’t have money to feed her three kids so she had to go to work.  That’s what parents do.”

                “You know Governor Abbot is a Republican right?”

                “That doesn’t matter.  If you have to violate Constitutional rights in the name of public health, it needs to be in the least invasive way.  That would be having the cops ask her to close down….repeatedly.”

                “Then what?”

                “Then nothing.  They can’t do anything else.”

                “You do understand the ridiculousness of a bald man complaining that a hair salon can’t open.”

                “It’s about principle not whether or not I would go.”

                “What happened after she was arrested?”

                “There was a court case and the judge chastised her for being selfish and told her to apologize. 

                “Did she?”

                “Nope, she fired right back that feeding her kids is not selfish; quite the opposite.  She called him out that if he thinks the law is more important than kids being fed, then he can go right ahead with his sentence.”

                “Well, at least she was willing to suffer the consequences.”

                “Yea, the woman has guts.”

                “Anyway, the Caribbean beaches are open.”

                “Are we going there?”

                “Yea, we’re going to San Martin.”

                “Yea, that will cheer me up.”

                “The problem is it’s a long flight and I’m going to have to deal with your moodiness the whole way I think.”

                “I love you too.  Imagine if you were actually listening to the stay at home order and were stuck in a house with me all day every day for two months.”

                “We’re not married.  We’re cousins.”

                “Same concept.”

                “Not even close”

                On the plane, Kera poses, “Can we not talk about Covid on the plane ride?”

                “Fine, there’s a lot of things finally being declassified and revealed about Mike Flynn.”

                “You know what, I’d prefer that.”

                “It turns out that the Mueller probe was just one more brick in the wall stacked against Flynn.”

                “Did you just try to make a Pink Floyd reference and then combine it with another expression thus failing miserably?”

                “You know your voice inflected to make it appear like a question but it seems like a statement to me.”

                “I’m just curious if you will acknowledge what you did.”

                “Yes, I admit that.”

                “Ok good.  Now proceed with something that’s been finished for over a year now.”

                “One of the people in charge of the Flynn part of the Mueller probe was Brandon Van Grack.  Apparently, he refused a court order during the Flynn case.”

                “That actually seems pretty egregious.”

                “It is.  Like everyone else in this case, this guy was obsessed with Flynn in a legal sense and was going to blow anything out of proportion.”

                “That is a matter of opinion.”

                “Anyway, the court ordered Van Grack to hand over all Brady material or anything that may suggest that Flynn is innocent.”

                “Yea, you learn about that in My Cousin Vinny they just don’t call it ‘Brady’’ material.”

                “Well, it’s a real thing.”

                “I know”

                “One of the things that is included in Brady material is impeachment material for all witnesses even if you believe it to be immaterial.”

                “Again, considering I thought the law was you have to give everything whether damning, exculpatory or indifferent, this isn’t very surprising.”

                “Well, he swore to the court that it had been met but he withheld over 6,900 documents from Flynn’s defense team.”

                “Holy shit, how did he justify that?”

                “They didn’t put the right words in the ‘search’ filter.”

                “Really?  That’s what they went with?”’ She retorted sarcastically

                “It’s worked for three years hasn’t it?”

                “It never would if they weren’t out to get Flynn.”

                “Then you admit that they were out to get Flynn”

                “I’m really not sure how you deny it at this point but I just don’t think it’s out of the ordinary for law enforcement to do that.”

                “Then the FBI needs to be disbanded for acting like Russian Gestapo.”

                “Let’s get to the facts rather than your analysis.”

                “Van Grack told Judge Sullivan that this case was crucial because Flynn’s conflict and communications with Russia was the heart of the inquiry and his false statements on 1/24/17 were material.”

                “That’s not really an explanation for what he did.  What was the purpose of saying that?”

                “It’s only illegal to lie to the FBI if the lie was material in that it hindered an investigation or had a negative effect.”

                “Oh, alright.”

                “No, not alright.  By the time they interviewed Flynn, the FBI had already cleared him of any improper ties, coordination or communication with Russia.”

                “The agents thought that but the upper echelon didn’t.  It’s like in Usual Suspects, Kevin Spacey got immunity but the agent wanted to interview him before he was released.  It’s standard procedure.”

                “How is it material if they had the transcript?  If he was cleared on January 4, they didn’t think he had anything to do with Russian collusion and that’s with having read the transcript of the conversation with the Russian ambassador.  If it was the heart of the inquiry, why did they conclude it had nothing to do with Flynn?  How can a lie have damaging effect when the question was, ‘did you talk about this’ and you have the transcript so you know that they did and what was said?  What is hindered?”

                “That’s a lot of questions.”

                “You don’t seem to have answers for them.”

                “I’m not a lawyer.”

                “You do have common sense though.” 

                The plane lands in San Martin and the usually vibrant beach town is desolate.  As they check into the hotel, they get beer because bars are still not open and drink in their rooms.  Since there wasn’t much to do and Kera had a meeting the next day, they made it an early night.          

                The next day, they head to the meeting.  Fanis queries, “Are we going to the Caribbean because nobody is travelling to beaches due to the Wuhan Virus so it’s a good private spot to meet?”

                “We went to the Caribbean a lot before covid.  It’s always a secure spot to speak.”

                “Tell that to Mike Flynn.”

                Kera screams, “Enough with Flynn already!”

                With that, Kera goes into a room and Fanis waits outside.  He has an ear piece in so he can hear if something is amiss.  He tunes out anything that doesn’t indicate danger so he still isn’t sure what they talk about.  The security guard at the establishment inquires, “You upset about Mike Flynn too?”

                “Yea”

                “Where’s Joe Pientka?”

                “Ah, the FBI agent that took notes when Flynn was being interviewed.  Yea, nobody knows.  Last I heard, he was transferred to San Francisco but people found him on the website.  Now, he’s mysteriously off their website.  Was he transferred again or are they hiding him?”

                “I’m glad you know who he is.  To be honest, besides being one of the agents that interviewed Flynn, I don’t know who he is.”

                “Well, according to the IG Report, he was in charge of verifying the Woods Report for the FISA on Carter Page.”

                “What’s that?”

                “When you check the information through the intelligence sources of the United States, Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand.”

                “They did all that?”

                “No, that’s the point.  The Woods file admits that it wasn’t verified and all the claims are either open source or false.”

                “Didn’t President Trump’s attorney meddle in the investigation?”

                “John Dowd?  No, Mueller lied about that too.  He called Flynn’s lawyer because he wanted some information.  He explicitly says that he wants it without giving up any confidential information.  When Mueller wrote about this in his report, he conveniently took out the part that said, ‘without giving up confidential information’ to make it look like he was looking for sensitive material.”

                “I’m not sure how this case is that complicated.  They have the transcript, they have what Flynn said.  If he said something was in the transcript that isn’t or vice versa, then the government is right.  If not, Flynn’s right.”

                “Well considering that they don’t have the original summary of the interview with Flynn and the government is refusing to hand over the transcript, they can’t do that.”

                “Wait, why won’t the government hand over the transcript?”

                “Good question.  When they demanded it, they just referred them to the Dowd recording.”

                “The one that they heavily edited.”

                “Yup, same one.”

                “Well, they probably think that there is some classified information on it.”

                “That’s what redactions are for but if you’re not willing to reveal the part where he lied because it’s classified, you should never have charged him.  When you charge someone, you have to be fully prepared to defend it in court.”

                “That would make sense”

                Kera emerged from her meeting and Fanis adjourned himself from his conversation with the security guard.  They went to the beach and removed their excess clothing leaving only their bathing suits.  When ready, they rushed to the water and Fanis dove in while Kera tested the water a little bit before taking the plunge.  They fought waves and hung out for about a half hour and then returned to their towel and umbrella to rest.  While there, a woman who looked to be in her mid to late 20s with sharp features, shoulder length black hair and a voluptuous body shaped like an hour glass was lying out.  A man approached her and she seemed to get worried and started crab walking back and looking around.  The man grabbed her leg and she squirmed but he secured her legs and yanked her towards him grabbing her arm and hoisting her up.  As he grabbed her by the arm, he aggressively pulled her toward the street.  Kera and Fanis looked at each other and Fanis knew what he had to do.

                Fanis got up and hurried over there.  He called out, “Hey, miss, is there a problem here?  Is that man hurting you?”

                “Back off, this is official police business” barked the man

                “No, I don’t think I’m going to do that.”

                He flashed a badge but Fanis seemed unimpressed.  He turned to the girl again, “Do you need help ma’ame?”

                “Yes, please” she timidly responded

                “Leave the girl alone.”

                The officer pulled out a night stick and swung it at Fanis not releasing his hold on the woman.  Fanis ducked under the blow and raised up uppercutting the man.  The man dropped his baton and took a couple steps back.  He charged at Fanis but Fanis sidestepped him and kicked at the calf of the charging man collapsing him forward.  Fanis hopped onto the officer’s back but he was able to support his weights as he got up on all fours.  Fanis hooked a punch into the cop’s mouth but it didn’t seem to faze him.  He grabbed Fanis’ arm and flipped him over his shoulder.  The cop wrapped his legs around Fanis’ arm and pounded at his chest.  Fanis kicked himself up and somersaulted over the man’s midsection smothering him.  Fanis held the position as the blows to the chest knocked the wind out of him and he needed to regain his breath.

                The office squirmed and Fanis eased off him and quickly got to his feet.  They circled each other and Fanis had his arms up.  The officer darted forward and faked a punch but Fanis wasn’t fooled.  As he retreated, Fanis drove in waving his arms but then kicking at the man’s right knee.  Fanis kicked at the other knee and the man lifted his leg.  He came in for a punch but Fanis rolled with it quicker and lifted his leg as he spun away causing the man to be behind him.  Fanis’ leg came up and his heel smacked against the back of the officer’s neck knocking him down.  This time Fanis didn’t want to get on the ground with him as he had proven to be very proficient.  Fanis took a couple steps back and sprinted forward kicking the officer in the side of the head.  The man collapsed onto his stomach and Fanis knelt down and drove his right arm under the man’s left and drilled his knee into his side to roll him over.  Once he got him over, he mounted him and unleashed a flurry of fists to the man’s face and challenged through clenched teeth, “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to hit women?”

                It didn’t take long for Fanis to be punching a lifeless body as his opponent was unconscious.  Fanis panted and got off him.  He walked to the water and washed his cracked knuckles in the salt water.  When he returned to the towel, he was surprised to find both Kera and the woman there.  He inquired, “Are you okay?”

                “I am now because of you.”

                Fanis could tell that Kera had given her some of the weapons that they always had on them.  The woman had a knife in one hand and a gun in the other.  Fanis gave her a mock expression and teased, “You know, you need two hands to fire that so having a knife in the other hand kind of defeats the purpose of having the gun in the other.”

                The woman put both down, “Good to know.”

                “I’m Fanis”

                “I’m Molly”

                “Hi Molly, now can you tell me why a St. Martin cop was attacking you?”

                “You sound American.”

                “As do you.”

                “Well I am.”

                “So am I but I live in London.”

                “Are you familiar with the Mike Flynn case?”

                Kera rolled her eyes, “Oh God, don’t get him started.”

                Fanis laughed and answered, “Intimately.”

                “Did you know that Mueller had a side deal with Flynn’s defense lawyer?”

                “The first ones; Covington and Burlington.  Van Grack threatened to prosecute Mike Flynn’s son but didn’t want the judge to know about it.  As per the case Giglio, that’s illegal since it forces him to reveal why a witness is testifying.”

                “Yea, so they wanted Mike Flynn to testify against Trump or his campaign members and used his son as bait.”

                “What’s worse is that Van Grack told Judge Sullivan that there were no agreements, promises, understandings, or representatives have been made or will be made.  He signed a document stating that.”

                “And it was a lie.”

                “Indeed it was.”

                “Now, that’s easy.  Van Grack is in a lot of trouble and doesn’t need any help.  There is a missing link to this case though.”

                “There are a couple.  We don’t have the original 302 and the government won’t turn over the transcript.”

                “The first one is what I’m looking at.  The agent that wrote the original 302, Joe Pientka is nowhere to be found.”

                “Not just that, they can’t find the 302.”

                Kera raised her hand, “Why do we care about the 302?” she challenged

                Fanis replied, “Well, Strzok did the interview and in his texts with Lisa Page, he tells her that he’s trying not to completely rewrite the document so as to save (redacted) voice.”

                Molly cried out, “I think it’s safe to say that Joe Pientka is the redacted name since who else’s voice are you preserving If not the original writer?”

                Fanis added, “See, that’s why they’re hiding him.  If he testified, he’d have to admit that he didn’t write the 302 that was submitted.”

                Kera put her hand out, “So wait, they submitted a 302 that they changed?”

                “They admitted they changed it a lot.  Page was yelling at him in the texts that Strzok made it incoherent.”

                “Wasn’t Flynn also accused of FARA allegations?  What happened to that?”

                Fanis smiled, “It turns out Van Grack messed that one up too.  That’s what they were going to get Mike Flynn Jr. on.  Allegedly, the Flynns represented the Turkish government but didn’t file the proper form to admit it.”

                “Okay”

                “It’s not illegal to represent a foreign government; Ambassadors; diplomats and lobbyists do it all the time. You violate FARA if you do it contrary to US law.”

                “That makes sense.”

                “I bet you’re wondering why they didn’t go with that?”

                “Yes, I am.  That was the basis of my question.  What’s with the foreplay?  Spit it out!”

                “The judge asked the Mueller team about Turkey.  Here’s the exchange.  The Judge asked, ‘you made no request for financial information from Turkey correct?”  Mueller responds, “Correct.”  The judge should have been done there but he kept going, “The bottom line, as far as the government’s investigation was concerned, they didn’t even try to get this information; is that correct?  The Mueller team rejoined, ‘Yes Sir.”

                Kera looked at him incredulously, “Wait, so they didn’t even bother asking?  They have no evidence that the FLynns were lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government and they didn’t even bother asking the Turks if they did but they charged them anyway?”

                “That’s right.”

                “What the fuck!”

                “Now you know why I’m so pissed about this.”

                “Alright, well, it still doesn’t explain one thing.  How does any of this have to do with her” pointing at Molly

                Molly nodded, “Well, I’m also disturbed by this case.  I’m on my way to San Francisco to try to find Pientka.  I’m here because someone had information that’s down here.  That man was sent by someone to stop me.”

                “How do you intend to find him when nobody else has?”

                Molly gave a coy smile, “I can be very persuasive.”

                “That’s not an answer.”

                Kera rolled her eyes, “Fanis, why did you attack a law enforcement officer in a country that isn’t yours?”

                “He was attacking a woman.  You know I hate when boys hit girls.”

                “He didn’t hit her.  He merely aggressively led her somewhere which cops do all the time.”

                “No, it looked a little too rough. For all I know she was arrested for being on the beach like they’ve been doing in America.”

                “It’s because she’s hot Fanis!  Are you going to tell me that had nothing to do with it?”

                Fanis got embarrassed and the woman grinned.  Fanis replied, “No, that wasn’t it.”  When the women gave him a doubting look, he conceded, “I mean it helped but she was being rough housed.”

                Molly spoke, “I do appreciate it and I’m sorry I got you involved in this but she’s right.  I have been sleeping my way for information and getting leads hoping that Mr. Pientka is a little lonely and in need of feminine touch.”

                “Well, that may be hard if people are on to you enough to send someone after you.”

                “I’ll be alright.  I expected push back but I’m  a grinder.  I’ll figure something out.”

                “Alright, well I’m glad we could help.”

                Kera shook her head, “Yes, Molly, of course you can stay with me and my cousin and we’ll make sure you get to the airport safely.  We are leaving tomorrow though so when’s your flight?”

                “Tomorrow actually.”

                ‘Fantastic.”

                She gave Fanis a dirty look and he was confused why he was being scolded.  Molly stayed with them and they escorted her to the airport the next day.  Afterwards, Fanis and Kera headed to their plane and flew back to London.  On the flight home, Kera uttered, “After what we just learned from Molly, you don’t seem too crazy now.”

                “Which part finally made you realize it?”

                “When she showed me the court documents.  Exhibit 2 had Mueller’s team admit that they misrepresented the author of the notes.  They claimed it was Strzok but It was really Pientka and what they claim was Pientka was really Strzok.  These are high level FBI guys, how do you just mess that up?”

                “Speaking of high level FBI guys, what is the new FBI director Christopher Wray doing?”

                “He claims that he gave the information to Durham.”     

                “Flynn’s case started in 2017.  Durham wasn’t investigating this till 2019.  What did Wray do with it for two years?”

                “Good question.  I’m just going by what he said.  He blamed everything on Comey and he turned it over to Horowitz and Durham.”

                “If he gave It to IG Horowitz, then why wasn’t it in Horowitz’ IG report?”

                “What are you saying?”

                “Wray gave the information to the Mueller Counsel.  He conveniently left that out in his list of people he gave it to.”

                “How do you know that?”

                “There’s no other way the Mueller team would have gotten the information.”

                “Oh, right.  So, what do you think?  They’re already a week late in dropping the Flynn case.  Do you think it’ll happen?”

                “No, he knows too much.  If it’s dropped, then Clinton will probably kill him because he knows all about the inner workings of the Obama presidency since he was the national security advisor.  There’s a reason he was targeted and there’s a reason they’ll never let him be free.”

                “It’s getting to be overwhelming.  Even the fake news media is having trouble ignoring it.”

                “Look at how they ignored the Trump Russian collusion and Blasey Ford.  Neither had any shred of evidence.  In fact, they had anti-evidence and they ran with it anyway.”

                “So, you’re saying no way no how?”

                “I am.”

                “Alright but remember Trump was exonerated and acquitted of impeachment so these cases do conclude and they have had favorable outcomes.”

                “Trump is president.  He has a little more pull.”

                Unbeknownst to the passengers on the plane, Mike Flynn was a day away from having all charges dropped against him.  The next day, when they found out while in Kera’s flat, Kera mocked, “Maybe Molly came through after all.”

                Fanis chuckled but he was beaming as justice had been served.