RUSH: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, Michael Flynn, General Flynn, who has become the kicking football, the scapegoat, the what-have-you.

Mike Flynn has become the repository of everything that “doesn’t look good” in the Trump administration. Whatever doesn’t look good, point to Michael Flynn. So Flynn has piped up and said, “Hey, grant me immunity, and I’ll tell you anything I know,” and what is the immediate reaction when you…? I ran it by Snerdley just to do a little test here. I said, “Are you bothered that Flynn is asking for immunity? “Damn right I am!” “Why?” “What are they hiding? I want to know what they’re hiding.” “Wait a minute, now. Flynn’s supposed to be on your team.”

“I don’t care! What’s he hiding? It doesn’t look good. It doesn’t look…” (laughing) Flynn asking for immunity, “It doesn’t look good.” I saw Jason Chaffetz… (interruption) Well, in this case, I don’t have a generic first thought. That’s my whole point. When I heard that Flynn was asking for immunity, I began thinking, “Okay, why?” I didn’t immediately assume the guy’s guilty ’cause I’m sorry, I’m not gonna fall for “it doesn’t look good.” They’re trying to destroy the guy, and, I don’t know. Maybe he deserves to be destroyed, but I doubt it.

The guy’s just an uber-loyalist. He was one of the first uber-loyalists Trump had. He was in there; he was at every rally. He was doing everything he could at the time to support Trump, to get Trump elected. It’s clear he wanted a position in the Trump administration. He ran the defense intel. Yeah, he may be one of these guys that rubs people wrong because he never laughs and he’s dead serious and the enemy is right around the corner and we can’t afford to relax one day. He might wear people out; I don’t know. I don’t know the guy.

But I do know that he’s sitting there minding his own business and anything in this story that’s awry gets dumped on him. So it’s clear if there’s a scalp that has to be delivered by the Trump people with time to buy here, it’s gonna be his, and he can figure this out. Imagine if you’re Flynn for a second, and you haven’t done anything. The only thing you did was maybe not tell Pence the truth in a timely fashion about something. But you didn’t break the law when talking to the Russian ambassador. You didn’t bring up sanctions. You didn’t do anything. All you’ve done is been loyal. And what’s it bought him?

His service to the country? He’s a great patriot. What’s that buying him now?

It’s getting him nothing. Now, don’t feel sorry for him. He knows how politics works. That’s why I think he’s asking for immunity. If you must know… If you really want to know what I think about this, I think he’s asking for immunity for protection against any allegation of perjury. I would expect, in fact, if he’s granted immunity… I don’t think the Democrats are gonna do it for the reason I’m gonna give you right now. If he’s granted immunity, I think he wants to unload on the media and unload on the Democrats and unload on everybody writing and broadcasting this phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roll BS story.

What he’s been accused of so far… You know, when anybody starts talking to the FBI, all they can think of is the Martha Stewart crime: Telling a lie during the interview, not committing any crime beforehand. When they can’t get you on the actual commission of a crime, they get you on the process crime. Martha Stewart went to jail for what, six months, for lying to them in an interview. He’s not stupid. He knows there’s a public record of what he said. There is a private record of what he said. The people that he’s spoken to might also be sought, so he wants immunity — my guess is — from perjury charges.

And maybe he wants full-fledged immunity, limited-use immunity. I don’t know what he wants. I’m just guessing at it all, and I don’t think… Look, folks, I could be wrong, but I don’t think Flynn is looking to turn on Trump or the Republicans. Now, clearly the Democrats are salivating over that possibility. With Flynn coming in and saying, “Hey! Hey, you guys! Hey, I’ll come out and play and talk if you give me immunity!” “Well, okay!” It’s like Oliver North before the Senate Iran-Contra committee, remember that?

When North said he was testifying, Senator Inouye was on the committee, but there was also a New York lawyer they brought in to actually lead the panel. I can’t remember his name. He lived right across the street from where I did. (interruption) No, no, no, no. It wasn’t Salazar. Somebody. I’ll find the name. It was a famous, you know, New York-Washington, big white-shoe firm lawyer guy. And he said (impression), “Colonel North! Colonel North!” You remember how North ran rings about that committee? Because they assumed that Oliver North had the goods on Ronald Reagan and was prepared to give him up.

Instead, North ran rings around ’em and it was the first public display of “do not grant immunity until you know what the immunized witness is gonna say.” They were so arrogant. They thought they had Reagan dead to rights, ’cause they thought they had Ollie dead to rights. They did not factor Ollie’s loyalty. North… In fact, this lawyer, said (impression), “Colonel North! Colonel North, what were you doing? I have a document here that survived — survived — survived the, uh, shredder.” And North said, “You mean I missed one?” He just run circles around ’em.

Now, I think that the popular assumption on Flynn is that he’s ready to turn on Trump, do a 180, that he’s tired of being the punching bag, and I think it’s just the exact opposite. If I were Flynn, I’d be livid over all this. I’d be livid that this all led to me having to be fired ’cause I’m a great guy. “I’m a great patriot, I’m loyal to Trump, I helped Trump, I did everything I could. But I took a bullet for the team. Okay, fine. Somebody has to go here to quiet the dogs, I’ll go. Yeah, I could have briefed Pence a little earlier than I did, but I was just following orders.” But if I were the Democrats, I would be very worried that Flynn was going to just unload on them on the whole thing, from the principle of it on down.

And on that basis, we’ll see. We’ll see if the guy actually gets immunity.

Remember Cheryl Mills? Cheryl Mills was an assistant to Hillary Clinton, an executive assistant, a confidant, a Huma Junior. And during one of the interviews that the FBI conducted about Benghazi — no. It might have been Benghazi and the emails and the server. They allowed Hillary to claim that Cheryl Mills was her lawyer. Cheryl Mills had never been her lawyer, and they granted Cheryl Mills immunity. The FBI allowed Cheryl Mills to be granted immunity.

It was senseless, it made no sense. Everybody thought, “What did this mean? This means the investigation is not really serious or thorough. Why grant this person immunity when she has inside information that you are seeking?” And the revelation that she was granted immunity led everybody to believe the FBI was really not serious about finding out whatever it was that Hillary had been doing. Do you think it’s odd, Mr. Snerdley, that in this environment, we are living — we’re in the midst of insanity here. Washington, D.C., collectively has lost its mind.

Michael Flynn knows that he’s the target. He knows that he’s at least the first scalp. If the Democrats can get him, whoa. You don’t think it makes sense to ask for immunity. Okay, no matter what it looks like. I mean, he doesn’t have time to be worried about what it looks like. He’s gotta be worried about the rest of his life, his reputation, career, so forth and so on and if they’re rigging the game to the extent they have, the media which runs the town, the Democrats and their sycophants, I mean, you want to hear what I know? You gotta grant me immunity. Meaning also, don’t hit me with any of these bogus perjury charges. I think it’s eventual perjury charges, I’m just guessing, but that was the first thing that popped into my mind about Flynn.

See, folks, it’s a great example here. If you look at what’s going on in Washington as a war and these skirmishes are the various battles, Flynn is on the Trump team. And look how easily, look how quickly without thinking people are willing to throw him overboard after all of this loyalty, after all of this devotion, after all the time he spent trying to help Trump by simply asking for immunity.

It’s the natural reaction, “Oh, my God, oh, my God! You don’t want immunity unless you’re guilty.” Everybody thinks that. Jason Chaffetz, House Republican, the oversight committee on TV today, “Immunity from what? I don’t understand this request for immunity.” So even people on the same team that Flynn thinks he’s on have the knee-jerk reaction, “A-ha, immunity. Guilty.” And Flynn knows that there are all kinds of people that would love to be able to shovel half of this off on him when in truth Michael Flynn has had criminal activity perpetrated against him.

He was not surveilled. He was not under surveillance. The Russian ambassador was. We should never have known who the Russian ambassador was talking to, but the Democrats, the Obama holdovers — think Evelyn Farkas — are the people that unmasked Flynn, made his name public and associated it with all those leaks from the so-called intel community that were happening in late December and January.

If anybody ought to be asking for immunity, it’s whoever it is that unmasked Flynn and blabbed to the media that he’s the guy the Russian ambassador was talking to when this particular surveillance was documented and transcribed. So I just think it’s a little premature here to automatically assume that Flynn is guilty in all of this. He may be. I don’t know. But I think it’s timely here and would make sense to examine everything from all sides, because it is clear that they aren’t gonna stop any of this until they get Trump.

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RUSH: That Democrat prosecutor that I was thinking of that was prosecuting Ollie North is Arthur Liman from Manhattan, and that was 1986. I moved to New York in 1988, and it didn’t take me long to get accustomed to what you read in New York. You read Page Six, you read Liz Smith and all these. And I’m seeing the name Arthur Liman in the society columns and in the gossip columns, that Arthur Liman’s hosting a deal there, Arthur Liman drinking from the fountain in his apartment building. He was a hero.

He was a hero in New York even after Oliver North made mincemeat of him. He was a hero because he tried to get Oliver North. Arthur Liman, Colonel North, Colonel North. I’ll never forget it. There’s certain things you don’t forget. The Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill hearings, and Susan what’s her name, Hoerchner. It sounded like she was testifying while constipated for three weeks. Just hilarious stuff.

Anyway, about Flynn, we need to also make a clarification. The House permanent subcommittee on intelligence is saying they have not subpoenaed him, they have not offered him immunity, they’ve not sought to talk to him. So remember this request for immunity is based on an anonymous source. The spokesperson for the House committee says there has been no such request from Flynn for immunity. I’m not sure about the Senate committee, but even Trump’s out there reacting to it.

“Oh, yeah, he ought to ask for immunity. He ought to ask for immunity, the way this thing’s turned into a witch hunt.” I bet you think that Trump would be scared of Flynn getting immunity, but he seems to be encouraging it.

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RUSH: One more thing about Flynn, folks. The Senate is denying it, too, that they have extended immunity or that Flynn has asked. So right now all we have is an unnamed source claiming that Flynn is seeking immunity. I mean, the people that he’s supposedly seeking it from are denying they have been asked. Now, we haven’t talked to the Russians, but I don’t know how the Russians could grant him immunity.

I gather anything’s possible. Could the Russians grant him immunity in this case? It depends. Putin is out there saying (paraphrasing), “You know, you Americans, you’re screwing this up royally. We now are in a worse relationship than we were at any time in the Cold War.” That’s what Putin is saying. And he means the American political system, Washington. “You guys are making such a mess of this. We didn’t do anything to your election! We didn’t have a thing to do with your election.”

I know you don’t want to believe Putin. Nobody will. But he is claiming that it’s worse than ever.

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RUSH: Berryville, Virginia. Hi, Keith. You’re next. It’s great to have you here.

CALLER: Hey, thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to say that I think Flynn would be a fool not to ask for immunity, you’re correct. We kind of forget about what happened to Scooter Libby.

RUSH: Yeah. Exactly. Scooter Libby didn’t do anything.

CALLER: No. They knew he didn’t know anything when the investigation started, and they knew it was Armitage, and they still investigated him as being the guy who outed Valerie Plame and wrapped him around the axle.

RUSH: You’re right. That remains one of the strangest things. Let me basically recap this for those of you who are new to the program. I’m sure most of you remember the controversy surround the outing of a supposed CIA spy by the name of Valerie Plame. Now, supposedly it happened when Robert Novak, the late great columnist Robert Novak wrote a column identifying her as a spy. This goes back to the weapons of mass destruction era and controversy. Her husband, Joe Wilson, had been dispatched to Africa to find some yellowcake uranium that Saddam Hussein supposedly had bought. He went over there.

The Bush team sending this guy over there was as dumb as Trump hiring Chuck Schumer to do something. It was silly. So, anyway, the guy comes back, reports there isn’t anything, Saddam’s not buying anything, Bush is lying. Novak column appears. And all of a sudden the media and the Democrats are outraged that a CIA agent has been outed and an investigation begun.

Now, Novak had to protect his source, and for a while he did, ’cause that’s what journalists do, but eventually he revealed that it was Richard Armitage at the Bush State Department who told him that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, the wife of Joe Wilson. And Armitage and Colin Powell were kind of close, buddy-buddy over there at the State Department.

Well, this ended up being a full-blown special prosecutor investigation that was run by Pat Fitzgerald, who was a prosecutor of unassailable reputation. And what they really wanted was to get Karl Rove. They wanted to associate Rove with this leak. They brought Rove in, they interviewed him I don’t know how many times, all these people. They finally brought in Scooter Libby, who worked for Dick Cheney. And Scooter got himself caught up in a process crime like Martha Stewart did, and he ended up going to jail for being involved in the leak of the name Valerie, when everybody knew all along it was Armitage.

It was one of the strangest things in the world. But everybody was aligned trying to destroy Bush. This was in the second term when they were trying to destroy the war in Iraq and hang that around Bush’s neck, exactly what they’re trying to do with Trump now. Back then it was the Iraqi war and Bush irresponsibly getting people into it. Today it’s the Russians working with Trump to screw the election from Hillary.

But in a way it’s repeating, and so this is why Keith says it makes sense for Flynn to demand immunity if he testifies because if he doesn’t, they’re gonna get him no matter what. He’s already been targeted as such. But again, I need to remind you, everybody involved is saying he’s not asked. The Senate and House committees say they haven’t had any such requests from Flynn or his lawyers for immunity.

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RUSH: The last I heard was that neither House or Senate committee had ever heard from Flynn, Michael Flynn, about immunity. And yet right there on Fox: “Michael Flynn offers to testify in exchange for immunity.” I haven’t seen that confirmed. The committees are saying they haven’t heard from Flynn or his lawyers. And CNN’s running the same thing. And I’m sitting here wondering, have I missed something? Did something happen in the last five minutes when I got up and walked around the building here?

Because this morning it was just the House was saying, “Hey, we haven’t heard from Flynn.” And then the Senate weighed in, “We haven’t heard from Flynn, either.” And the networks are still running stories: “Michael Flynn offers to testify in exchange for immunity.” Well, these two committees have said that they have not heard from Flynn with this offer. It’s an unnamed source that’s propelling all of this. What about the possibility that Flynn nor his lawyers have even asked for immunity? Everybody thinks he has now. And because they think he has, they think he’s gotta be guilty of something.

So let me run this down. These networks are running this like it’s a no-doubt story that Flynn’s seeking immunity. And yet again the last thing I saw was nobody on any committee says they’ve yet been asked for immunity by Flynn or anybody associated with him.