Trump praises Flynn; talk of pardon raised
President Donald Trump on Thursday voiced strong support for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, raising speculation that a pardon may be coming after Flynn’s lawyers disclosed internal FBI documents they claim show the FBI was trying to entrap him.
Trump has long said he is considering pardoning Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in early 2017 about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the
United States. The president spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning retweeting supportive statements and a video Flynn tweeted of an American flag flapping in the wind.
He told reporters at the White House that he believed Flynn had been “tormented” and that, following the release of the documents, “now we have to see what’s going to happen.”
“They came at him with 15 buses and he’s standing in the middle of the highway. What they did to this man,” Trump said, without specifying what he meant. “They tormented him. They destroyed him. But he’s going to come back.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called into Fox News Channel to react to the release of the FBI documents, saying, “if true, it is extremely troubling.”
“If all this proves to be true, you will have, certainly, a major, major error on the part of top leadership at the FBI, which could well warrant additional charges against them,” he said.
Lawyers for Flynn released internal FBI emails and handwritten notes on Wednesday documenting internal correspondence among FBI officials before Flynn’s interview with the bureau. They contend the documents bolster their allegations that Flynn was set up to lie when he was questioned at the White House three years ago. The notes show the officials grappling with how best to approach Flynn, how much information to provide him during the interview and what to do if he made a false statement.
Flynn, who was among the first of the president’s aides charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, is now seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and makes broad assertions of law enforcement misconduct. U.S. District Judge Emmet
Sullivan has rejected many of the defense arguments but has yet to rule on whether Flynn can take back his guilty plea.
Meanwhile, a federal prosecutor from Missouri is reviewing the Justice Department’s handling of the case at the direction of Attorney General William Barr. The department said the notes were provided as part of that ongoing review.
It remains unclear what bearing the documents will have on the case or how significant the judge will determine them to be. But Flynn has emerged as something of a cause celebre in recent months for supporters of the president, who have rallied around the retired Army lieutenant general and seized on the findings of a harshly critical watchdog report on the Russia investigation to try to cast doubt on the entire probe.
Prosecutors haven’t filed anything in response to Wednesday’s action by Flynn’s lawyers. But Trump has made clear he is considering a pardon. Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox on Thursday that it would be up to Trump to make any announcement on a pardon, but called Flynn’s treatment a “disgrace.”
In FBI emails dated Jan. 23, 2017, the day before agents interviewed Flynn at the White House, officials pondered at what point in the conversation Flynn should be reminded that it is against the law to lie to the FBI — at the outset of the conversation or after he makes a suspected false statement. His lawyers have said he was never given such a warning.
Also released was a page of handwritten FBI notes, dated the following day, in which an official appears to recap an internal debate inside the bureau about the interview.
“What’s our goal? Truth/admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” the notes say.
At another point, the notes say, “If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DoJ and have them decide.” That is a reference to a centuries-old, esoteric law that makes it a crime for a private citizen to conduct foreign policy with another government.
The notes also say: “If we’re seen as playing games, WH will be furious. Protect our institution by not playing games.”
The handwritten notes bear the initials “EP,” which is likely a reference to E.W. Priestap, the senior FBI official who in the summer of 2016 approved the opening of an investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.