TWEETLE DUMB
Trump claims he fired Flynn because he ‘lied’ to FBI Legal pros call it ‘obstruction of justice’
President Trump’s Saturday tweet (right) implies that he knew National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (far left) had lied to the FBI — before Trump asked the nowfired FBI Director James Comey (left) to “go easy” on him.
DID PRESIDENT Trump know former national security adviser Michael Flynn lied to the FBI before he fired him? A Saturday tweet from the commander-inchief sure makes it look that way.
Trump’s tweet intimated that he knew that Flynn lied to the FBI as well as to Vice President Pence about his contacts with Russians during the presidential transition.
Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to misleading federal agents about conversations he had with a Russian diplomat and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Moscow’s meddling in the election.
Trump tweeted Saturday that he “had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI,” but added paradoxically that his exadviser’s actions were not illegal and “there was nothing to hide!”
The apparent admission that he knew Flynn fibbed to the feds before he asked then-FBI Director James Comey to go easy on him could land Trump in hot water, several critics warned.
“Oh my god, he just admitted to obstruction of justice,” former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller tweeted. “If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI when he asked Comey to let it go, then there is your case.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also said Trump’s tweet was proof of wrongdoing. “THIS IS OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE. @POTUS now admits he KNEW Michael Flynn lied to the FBI. Yet Trump tried to influence or stop the FBI investigation on Flynn,” Lieu tweeted.
Flynn was booted from the White House in February, less than a month into Trump’s term, after it became public he misled Pence about his conversations with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.
The White House gave no indication at the time that it knew Flynn also lied to the FBI during a January interview about those conversations.
A day after Flynn was booted, Trump approached Comey and asked him to drop the ongoing federal investigation into Flynn, Comey testified before Congress.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Trump asked. Comey refused, and Trump fired the FBI boss three months later.
Comey offered his own cryptic social media message Saturday, telling his followers on Instagram that the truth “cannot be long hidden.” Meanwhile, Trump’s enthusiastic support of Flynn appeared to wane in the wake of his copping to a felony.
“We’ll see what happens,” the President said when asked if he still stood by the retired general. Trump added that he was not concerned about Flynn’s cooperation with investigators.
According to court documents, a “senior member” and a “very senior member” of Trump’s transition team — reportedly former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner — directed Flynn to call Kislyak and other foreign officials about sanctions and a UN resolution related to Israel.
Emails among top Trump officials last December obtained by The New York Times reveal that Flynn’s attempt to dissuade Russia from retaliating against sanctions imposed by the Obama administration was common knowledge.
“Key will be Russia’s response over the next few days,” McFarland wrote in an email to a fellow transition official, Thomas Bossert, Trump’s homeland security adviser, The Times reported Saturday. “If there is a tit-for-tat escalation Trump will have difficulty improving relations with Russia, which has just thrown U.S.A. election to him,” McFarland, whom Trump has nominated to be ambassador to Singapore, wrote to other transition officials.
One of Trump’s lawyers told The New Yorker on Saturday that it doesn’t matter if anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with Russia because there is no law on the books against it.
“For something to be a crime, there has to be a statute that you claim is being violated,” Jay Sekulow told the magazine.