From The Daily Signal.com (May 2):
The twists and turns in the prosecution of intelligence expert Michael Flynn have revealed a string of actions by known bad actors in the FBI and prompted President Donald Trump to float the idea of bringing his short-lived national security adviser back into the administration.
Here are five keys to understanding the Flynn case and what’s next.
1. What Is Flynn’s Current Status in Court?
In late 2017, Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who specialized in intelligence operations, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Flynn, who served just over three weeks as Trump’s first national security adviser, had the opportunity to change his plea in December 2018, but stuck to it while represented by the prestigious law firm of Covington & Burling.
Flynn, 61, currently is represented by Texas lawyer and former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, who raised significant questions about the FBI’s tactics.
The former national security adviser has filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and for the court to dismiss the case.
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2. What Do the Released Documents Show?
Flynn resigned Feb. 13, 2017, on his 23rd day as national security adviser, saying that he had inadvertently misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his talks with Kislyak before Trump took office.
A batch of documents unsealed Wednesday shows that three FBI officials at the time—Director James Comey, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and counterintelligence chief Bill Priestap—pondered “goals” for interviewing Flynn at the White House beyond obtaining the truth.
Handwritten notes of their conversation bearing Priestap’s initials indicate FBI officials hoped to get Flynn “to admit to breaking the Logan Act” in talking with Kislyak during the transition period between the presidential election Nov. 8, 2016, and Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, 1917.
The Logan Act is a 1799 law, never used in a prosecution, intended to prevent individuals from falsely claiming to represent the federal government when interacting with foreign officials.
One of Priestap’s notes reads: “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
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3. FBI’s Interview of Flynn
The notes of FBI officials’ conversations leading up to two agents’ interview of Flynn add more context to already questionable issues that Comey has boasted about.
Strzok was one of the agents who went to the White House to conduct the interview.
Comey, the former FBI director, said in at least one television interview that he took advantage of the fledgling Trump White House to send the agents over to interview Flynn, skipping normal protocols.
“I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized investigation—a more organized administration,” Comey said, correcting himself in an interview with MSNBC pundit Nicolle Wallace in late 2018. “In the George W. Bush administration, for example, or the Obama administration.”
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4. What Related Investigations Are Underway?
The Justice Department is conducting an internal review and the Republican-led Senate is seeking more information.
Barr named Jeffrey B. Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to conduct a review of the Flynn case and determine whether any improprieties occurred.
In the April 27 letter, Grassley asked Barr to produce more information about the Flynn case.
“Simply stated, after years of rampant speculation and publicly reported inconsistencies regarding how the FBI handled the case, it’s time for the public to know the full set of facts relating to Lt. Gen. Flynn, including any and all government misconduct,” Grassley writes, requesting the Justice Department to unseal the records.
Grassley, now chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in February 2017 when he first requested information from the Justice Department about the Flynn case.
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5. Presidential Pardon for Flynn?
Trump has floated the idea of a “full pardon” for Flynn.
During a Thursday press conference, however, Trump said he likely wouldn’t even need to use the pardon power.
“It looks to me like Michael Flynn would be exonerated, based on everything that I’ve seen,” Trump said. “I’m not the judge, but I have a different kind of power. But I don’t know if anybody would have to use that power.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. What they did, what they wrote … it’s just disgraceful,” the president said. [read more]
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