May
3

The Vindication of Gen. Michael Flynn

“What happened to General Michael Flynn, a war hero, should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again!” — President Trump

You may recall that Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn was forced into early retirement by President Obama in 2014. He joined the Trump presidential campaign in early 2016 and served very briefly as President Trump’s National Security Advisor a year later. But, he had to resign when an ongoing investigation into him by the Dept. of Justice made him too controversial a figure. In particular, allegations were made that he lied to V.P. Mike Pence about (now-leaked) communication he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The broader context for the DoJ investigation was the “Russia Collusion” story that the Democrats were pushing in order to get Trump impeached and, hopefully, thrown out of office. Because of certain dealings Flynn had with Russians — i.e., giving a speech in Russia in 2015, where he made a few friends — they were able to paint him as a Russian agent. This would have the effect of removing Flynn as an obstacle and discrediting Trump in the process. In the end, Flynn’s attorneys convinced him to plead guilty to “willfully and knowingly” making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI regarding the call with Kislyak. That was on Dec. 1, 2017. Flynn’s sentencing has been deferred several times, most recently on Feb. 10, 2020.

But, Flynn was (obviously) never happy about this outcome and maintained (via his attorneys) that FBI agents had tricked him into lying during the Jan. 24, 2017, interview, which they had implied was non-investigatory. Eventually, Flynn fired his original legal team from Covington & Burling, then hired Sidney Powell and Jesse Binnall in June 2019. They began gathering evidence and putting a new case together, claiming misconduct by the DoJ prosecuting team. Flynn has filed a motion seeking permission to withdraw his guilty plea, “because of the government’s bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement.”

Over just the past several days, the DoJ (now under AG Barr) has produced exculpatory evidence, including FBI emails and handwritten notes, and more is on the way. As a result, Flynn’s case is growing stronger by the day. It is becoming clear that not only did the DoJ use shady practices to try to trap Flynn into perjuring himself, but his defense team advised him to take the plea deal due to their own conflict of interest.

Here are several highlights from what has been revealed so far:

“They needed to create a crime if they were going to get rid of him…. [As per one FBI agent’s newly released notes:] ‘What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute [Flynn] or get him fired?'”

When the FBI field office found “No derogatory information” on Flynn and decided to close the Crossfire Razor investigation, Peter Strzok (Deputy Assistant Director in the Counterintelligence Division) demanded they keep it open.

The FBI had come up with no proof of wrongdoing as a Russian agent, but the “Deep State” was determined to get Flynn on something. So, the DoJ invoked the Logan Act (1799), which made it a crime for unauthorized American citizens to negotiate with foreign governments with whom the U.S. is having a dispute, thereby potentially subverting the government’s position. But, if they truly thought he had violated said Act, they could have simply proceeded with prosecution. They already had transcripts of the phonecall in question and had no need to interview Flynn. “The real goal was [to] trap him into saying something at odds with [the] transcript, to ‘get him to lie.'”

“When asked who went around the protocol of going through the WH Counsel’s office and instead decided to send the FBI agents into White House for the Flynn perjury trap, [then-FBI Director James] Comey smugly responds ‘I sent them.'”

“We have McCabe docs showing he discouraged [Flynn] from getting lawyer. FBI decided to get rid of standard admonition altogether. Also did not tell Flynn he was being interviewed in an ‘investigatory’ context, suggesting this was a chat between gov officials.”

“‘The only basis for the allegations against Mr. Flynn depends on the agents’ characterizations of his statements to them,’ explained Flynn’s lawyers…. ‘The agents did three briefings the day of the interview. They reported he had a sure demeanor, and he was telling the truth or believed he was.’ [Comey and the Deep State] simply changed the story later.”

“In 2018, Mueller wrote in Michael’s Flynn’s sentencing memorandum that ‘nothing about the way [Flynn’s] interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI.’… [T]his claim is entirely inconsistent with the evidence. Moreover, at the time of Flynn’s interview, ‘[Sally Yates] was “unclear” why the FBI was investigating or interviewing Mr. Flynn,’ according to Flynn’s lawyers…. [The supposed evidence that Flynn was] ‘compromised’ by the Russians and subject to blackmail… was political pretext without substance.”

“He took the plea because his former lawyers conveyed legal threats from the FBI and DOJ, ‘charges against me, my son, as well as the potential of a long term prison sentence.’ A 15-year prison sentence, his lawyers said, plus ‘the Manafort treatment.’ Flynn was intimidated by the dire prospects and did what he was advised by counsel to do in order to preserve his son’s freedom — he plead guilty. His former lawyers told him what to say and how to say it, and Flynn did as he was advised by the people he trusted.”

“Flynn’s lawyers were concealing the truth: that the federal agents who interviewed him at the White House believed there was no indication that Flynn ever lied to them. Instead, his lawyers led Flynn to believe that federal agents could prove that he lied and that there was a solid case of falsification against him.”

“[W]hat Flynn didn’t know at the time was that his former lawyers were being bullied by the DOJ into believing that they were personally involved in a criminal enterprise. This fear was accompanied by the possibility of criminal prosecution for their own actions resulting from botched documents the former lawyers filed with the DOJ in Flynn’s case back in 2017. Instead of notifying Flynn of the conflict at hand, the attorneys charged Flynn hundreds of thousands of dollars for attempts to fix their own mistakes. They also progressed with the representation of Flynn, in violation of court rules that require their withdrawal under such circumstances…. It was in the former counsel’s personal best interest for Flynn to plead guilty — it would get them off the hook for their botched DOJ filing.”

“[P]artisan FBI and DOJ leaders conspired to destroy Mr. Flynn … deliberately suppressed this evidence from the inception of this prosecution knowing there was no crime by Mr. Flynn.”

As Townhall‘s Marina Medvin (whom I also quoted several times above) sums it up:

“Powell and Binnall’s masterful illumination of the Michael Flynn prosecution has exposed unacceptable FBI and DOJ practices, activities by top officials that shame our country, practices that draw direct comparisons to our ideological enemies.”

Those who perpetrated this unscrupulous travesty of justice — from the DoJ, FBI, Mueller investigation, Flynn’s original defense team, etc. — need to be brought to justice themselves. The nation needs to know that such corruption will not be tolerated.

As for Flynn, nothing can make up for the damaged reputation, extraordinary financial strain, and years of legal and psychological hell that this ordeal has cost him and his family. But, I sincerely hope that this investigation will exonerate Flynn both in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. He has always been an honorable man who served his country with distinction, and he deserves nothing less.

P.S. If you’re inclined to read more, here are the primary articles I drew from for this post: