President Donald Trump spent Thursday morning in tweet storm defending Michael Flynn, arguing his former aide – who plead guilty to lying to the FBI – was badly treated by law enforcement officials during their investigation.
‘What happened to General Michael Flynn, a war hero, should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again!,’ Trump wrote.
He also attacked James Comey, who was FBI director during the Flynn investigation, after unsealed FBI documents revealed agents were trying to get Flynn ‘to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired’ in their controversial 2017 interview.
‘DIRTY COP JAMES COMEY GOT CAUGHT!,’ Trump tweeted.
President Trump spent Thursday morning in tweet storm focused on his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn
President Trump attacked James Comey (left), who was FBI director during the Michael Flynn (right) investigation, as a dirty cop
Coronavirus cases in the United States reached more than 1.6 million with more than 61,000 deaths while new statistics showed more than 30 million Americans filed unemployment claims since mid-March but Trump spent the morning tweeting about Flynn along with criticism of the media, particularly CNN and MSNBC’s Brian Williams.
He sprinkled in a few comments about the work being done to combat the coronavirus but the majority of the 46 tweets or retweets he sent between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. EST were focused on Flynn, his ex-campaign aide and former White House National Security Adviser.
The many tweets and retweets from the president included those his son Donald Trump Jr., House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, and a smattering of conservative radio hosts advocating for Flynn.
‘Not only should general Flynn’s charges be dropped immediately but the treasonous actors who set him up should be in jail!!!,’ was a tweet from Donald Trump Jr the president retweeted.
Mixed in with Trump’s outrage about Flynn was criticism of former FBI director James Comey, whom the president fired, and support for Roger Stone, a political dirty fixer and longtime Trump friend.
‘Does anybody really believe that Roger Stone, a man whose house was raided early in the morning by 29 gun toting FBI Agents (with Fake News @CNN closely in toe), was treated fairly. How about the jury forewoman with her unannounced hatred & bias. Same scammers as General Flynn!,’ Trump wrote.
Stone was convicted last year of lying to House investigators during their Russia probe and was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
President Trump spent much of Thursday morning tweeting or retweeting about newly released FBI documents in the Michael Flynn investigation
Mixed in with President Trump’s tweets defending Michael Flynn, was a defense of his longtime friend Roger Stone
Another target of Trump’s ire has been Comey, who was FBI director during the Flynn investigation. Comey claims Trump asked him during an Oval Office meeting to end the federal probe of his National Security Adviser, which Comey declined to do.
Flynn resigned from his White House post in February 2017 after it became public that he misled Vice President Mike Pence over his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Comey was fired on May 9, 2017.
Flynn plead guilty to a felony count of ‘willfully and knowingly’ making ‘false, fictitious and fraudulent statements’ to the FBI during his January 2017 interview with them at the White House on his Russia contacts.
His sentencing has been postponed and he is working with a new legal team in an attempt to withdraw his plea, claiming that agents tricked him into lying.
Trump spent much of late Wednesday night tweeting about his former aide, complaining about media coverage of the case and tweeting out reports of newly-unsealed FBI documents on the Flynn investigation.
The president called the federal probe into Flynn a ‘scam.’
‘.@CNN doesn’t want to speak about their persecution of General Michael Flynn & why they got the story so wrong. They, along with others, should pay a big price for what they have purposely done to this man & his family. They won’t even cover the big breaking news about this scam!,’ he wrote.
Conservative news outlets focused on Flynn after the unsealed FBI documents were released on Wednesday.
‘He was unfairly and unjustly targeted by ‘Deep State’ bureaucrats that clearly, with all the evidence now to prove it, wanted to take him down,’ Fox News host Sean Hannity said Wednesday night of Flynn.
The unsealed FBI documents show officials discussed whether to get Flynn ‘to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired’ during his controversial White house interview.
The bombshell notes reveal the bureau discussed how to approach its investigation into Flynn’s involvement with Russia and whether to confront him over intercepted conversations he had with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.
Agents also discussed the possibility of Flynn admitting to breaking the Logan Act and warned of the importance the White House did not think the bureau was ‘playing games’ with the investigation.
The release of the notes comes just days after President Trump retweeted a social media post claiming Flynn will be ‘completely exonerated’.
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI during its investigation of ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia but has since claimed he was ‘set up and framed’ by the bureau.
Unsealed FBI documents show officials discussed whether to get former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (above) ‘to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired’ during his controversial White house interview
Four pages of internal documents penned ahead of the January 2017 interview were released to Flynn’s lawyers last week and unsealed Wednesday by a federal judge.
The notes were handwritten by FBI’s former head of counterintelligence Bill Priestap after a meeting with then-FBI Director James Comey and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, according to Fox.
The notes reveal how top bureau officials discussed their plans for interviewing Flynn over the allegations and whether the ‘goal’ was to get him to tell the truth or catch him in a lie so he could be charged over the allegations.
‘What is our goal?’ one of the notes dated January 24 2017 – the day of the interview – read. ‘Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?’
In another note, the agents discussed the possibility of Flynn admitting to breaking the Logan Act.
‘If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DOJ and have them decide … or, if initially lies, then we present him [REDACTED] and he admits it, document for DOJ, and let them decide how to address it,’ the note read.
The Logan Act bans private citizens from engaging in unauthorized correspondence with foreign governments.
The notes reveal how top bureau officials discussed their plans for interviewing Flynn over the allegations
The FBI officials went on to consider whether to let Flynn know they were aware of his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, the then-Russian ambassador to the US, after they had intercepted his communications.
‘We regularly show subjects evidence with the goal of getting them to admit their wrongdoing,’ the notes said.
‘I don’t see how getting someone to admit their wrongdoing is going easy on him.’
The agents did not confront him about the conversations during the interview, according to FBI official reports.
Flynn did not admit to any wrongdoing in the interview but pleaded guilty later in 2017.
The agents also spoke about the importance that the White House did not think the FBI was ‘playing games’ with the investigation, the notes reveal.
Donald Trump waded into the matter Wednesday, showing his support for his former aide by retweeting two news articles on the documents and a Twitter post by Flynn which simply showed a video of an American flag waving in the wind in a rural setting
‘If we’re seen as playing games, WH will be furious,’ the notes read.
‘Protect our institution by not playing games.’
Flynn’s lawyers and supporters have claimed the documents show the former security adviser was set up by the FBI.
Flynn’s lawyer Sidney Powell told Fox News’ ‘Hannity’ Wednesday night the notes were ‘damning’.
‘It’s just absolutely appalling what these agents, and then special counsel operatives, did to General Flynn,’ he said.
‘It’s abuse of their authority at every turn. I interpret the notes as absolutely damning of their conduct and their plan.’
Donald Trump waded into the matter Wednesday, showing his support for his former aide by retweeting two news articles on the documents and a Twitter post by Flynn which simply showed a video of an American flag waving in the wind in a rural setting.
His eldest son Donald Trump Jr. also tweeted his support of Flynn: ‘Flynn doesn’t need to be pardoned, he did nothing wrong, he needs to be fully exonerated with all charges dropped immediately!’
On Sunday, Trump retweeted a post from Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo who claimed Flynn would be ‘completely exonerated’.
‘Breaking News: sources tell me [Flynn] will be completely exonerated this week. It was a total fraud. A Set up. More tomorrow,’ Bartiromo tweeted on Sunday.
Trump and Flynn at a rally during his 2016 presidential campaign. Flynn is one of six Trump aides and associates charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign
The president also retweeted a clip of a Fox News interview with Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman from California, which claimed ‘possibly exculpatory evidence’ showing the government ‘framed’ Flynn was submitted to the court Friday.
Last month, Trump – who fired Flynn saying he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI – said he was considering a full pardon for Flynn.
‘I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!’ Trump tweeted.
Flynn is one of six Trump aides and associates charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition period and provided extensive cooperation to Mueller’s team of investigators.
But Flynn now claims he did not lie and attempted to withdraw the guilty plea in January.
He alleges federal prosecutors acted in ‘bad faith’ and broke their end of the bargain when they sought prison time for him.
His attorneys are asking a federal judge to consider the new evidence as part of their request to withdraw his plea.
Flynn’s lawyers Powell and Jesse Binnall have that the new material ‘proves Mr. Flynn’s allegations of having been deliberately set up and framed by corrupt agents at the top of the FBI.’
Jeff Jensen, the US attorney in St. Louis, is leading a Justice Department review of the Flynn case
‘The government has deliberately suppressed this evidence from the inception of this prosecution — knowing there was no crime by Mr. Flynn,’ according to his lawyers.
Flynn has also accused his former attorneys from the law firm Covington & Burling of misleading him by allowing him to plead guilty in order to cover up its own errors.
Earlier this year, Attorney General William Barr ordered an external review into Flynn’s case headed by Jeff Jensen, the US attorney in St. Louis.
Jensen is a former FBI agent with a long background in battling white-collar crime.
A Justice Department official said Jensen is working with Brandon Van Grack, a member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, to review the Flynn case.
Prosecutors had initially said Flynn was entitled to avoid prison time because of his extensive cooperation, but the relationship with the retired Army lieutenant general grew increasingly contentious after he hired his new set of lawyers.
Following Flynn’s attempt to withdraw his plea, the Justice Department abruptly offered a more lenient sentencing recommendation.
The latest sentencing filing still seeks a sentence of up six months, but unlike before, prosecutors explicitly state that probation would be a ‘reasonable’ punishment and that they would not oppose it.
A second set of 11 pages of notes, which Flynn’s lawyers have called ‘more appalling’ and totaled 11 pages, were also released Wednesday but have not been made public.