FBI to review probe of Flynn
Investigation to look for potential misconduct by employees
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Christopher Wray has ordered an internal review into possible misconduct in the investigation of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, the bureau said Friday.
The after-action review will examine whether any current employees engaged in misconduct during the course of the investigation and evaluate whether any improvements in FBI policies and procedures need to be made.
The announcement adds to the internal scrutiny over one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s signature prosecutions during his investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The review will be led by the bureau’s Inspection Division, which conducts internal investigations into potential employee misconduct.
Although the FBI does not have authority on its own to bring a criminal prosecution, the after-action review will look at whether any current employees engaged in misconduct deserving of discipline. The division cannot take disciplinary action against former employees.
It is not clear how many officials involved in the Flynn investigation remain with the FBI. Several officials — including former Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe and former agent Peter Strzok, who interviewed Flynn — have either been fired or have left the bureau.
The FBI did not say what sort of potential misconduct it was looking for in the investigation of Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to agents about conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition.
The case has been a subject of outrage for Trump and his allies, who have alleged that Flynn was effectively set up to lie when the FBI questioned him at the White House in January 2017.
The concerns were given new life earlier this month when the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case and identified a series of what it argues were problems in the way Flynn was investigated.
The request to dismiss the case has triggered its own internal back-andforth in the courts.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has assigned a retired judge to argue against the Justice Department’s position. Flynn’s attorneys have asked a federal appeals court to order Sullivan to dismiss the case and to reassign any future court proceedings to another judge. An appeals court panel, meanwhile, has asked Sullivan to respond to the defense request.
The FBI said that with its own internal review, it has cooperated and been transparent with multiple inquiries assigned by Attorney General William Barr.