On December 29, 2016, the Russian Collusion Hoax was already in play and had become the centerpiece of the Obama strategy for ousting Trump, but Obama needed to dramatically raise the stakes and turn Russia from “political trickster” to “dangerous enemy aggressor” in the public mind — to justify a planned accusation of treason against Trump and trigger a constitutional/military crisis that would allow Obama to stay in power, or at least cripple the incoming Trump administration.
And THAT is why General Flynn was Obama’s first target in the Trump administration! (In my opinion)