May 7, 2020
In a stunning development, the Department of Justice has dropped its case against President Trump’s former National Security Advisor Lt. General Michael Flynn.
The announcement came in a 20-page court filing, outlining the reasons behind the decision. The argument made by the DOJ is a stinging rebuke of the FBI’s handling of the case against Flynn,
This dismissal owes in part to Attorney General Barr’s appointment of U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen who was tasked with investigating the handling of the Flynn case. Shockingly, Jensen uncovered never before disclosed documents, which laid bare the motivations behind the tactics used by those at the top level of the FBI to ensnare Flynn.
According to the motion, aside from the law and legal precedent, the decision was based on the newly released documents, along with what was already known about the deviations from normal protocol taken by the FBI, which made clear that the FBI was not acting in good faith in their investigation leading to Flynn’s prosecution.
In the motion to dismiss the DOJ asserts two overarching reasons:
- Flynn’s statements were not “material” to any legitimate investigation. “Even if he told the truth, Mr. Flynn’s statements could not have conceivably “influenced” an investigation that had neither legitimate counterintelligence nor criminal purpose.”
- There is doubt that Flynn intentionally lied. “The Government does not believe it could prove that Mr.Flynn knowing, and willfully made a false statement beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The investigation and Interview were not properly predicated
On January 4th, 2017 field agents concluded that there was no evidence against Flynn and wanted to shut the 4-month-old probe down. It only remained alive due to the urging of Peter Strzok and others at the top of the FBI. After hearing a recording of a December 29, 2016 phone call between Flynn and the then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, the FBI used the Logan Act as a pretext to keep the investigation open. The Logan act is an arcane law dating back to 1799, which makes it a crime for ordinary citizens to engage in foreign affairs on behalf of the U.S. Never mind that no one in the history of the U.S. has ever been successfully prosecuted under this law, and that Flynn was the incoming NSA.
Further, according to the DOJ, “The calls were entirely appropriate on their face.” The DOJ concluded that the FBI had no basis to continue the investigation, or conduct the January 24, 2017, FBI interview, in which Flynn was alleged (and in December 2017 pleaded guilty) to have lied to the FBI. Moreover, the DOJ found that the FBI acted in bad faith when they did not follow standard protocols leading up to and during the interview, seemingly motivated by the desire to manufacture a crime.
“Under these circumstances, the Government cannot explain, much less prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, how false statements are ‘material’ to an investigation that…seems to have been undertaken only to elicit those very false statement and thereby criminalize Flynn.”
Did Mike Flynn Lie?
The rebuttal by many on the left to the dismissal of the charges against Flynn is- but he lied. However, as outlined in the motion this too is suspect. During the interview, Flynn “offered either equivocal (“I don’t know”) or indirect responses, or claimed to not remember the matter in question”. Further, even though it is standard procedure, the FBI failed to show Flynn a copy of the telephone call transcript for his reference.
Moreover, after the interview the agents reported back that they did not believe Flynn intentionally lied. According to the motion,
“ The FBI agents reported to their leadership that Mr. Flynn exhibited a ‘very sure demeanor’ and ‘did not give any indicators of deception’.”
“Both of the agents ‘had the impression at the time that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.’”
Even former FBI Director Jim Comey was equivocal when asked if Flynn lied. Comey responded that he didn’t know stating that “It is a close one.”
The DOJ concluded that-
“The evidentiary problems that have emerged create reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. Flynn knowingly and willingly lied to investigators during the interview.
As for Flynn’s guilty plea. the motion explains that Flynn did “so without full awareness of the circumstances of the newly discovered, disclosed or classified information as to the FBI’s investigation of him”. Further, it has been reported that the FBI was threatening to prosecute Flynn’s son, and that he could no longer afford to fight.
Read the Motion to dismiss here:
Finally some long-awaited justice for Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, an American military hero. However, the FBI was only after Flynn because he was an obstacle to reaching their ultimate goal – President Trump.
In April on Fox New’s Laura Ingraham show Barr called the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign “one of the biggest travesties in American history.”
U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has been tasked with investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion probe, in other words, investigating the investigators is expected to release his findings in late summer- early fall. Finally-Justice.
