It’s been rumored for months, and now the incomparable Catherine Herridge of CBS News has confirmed it: former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was set up. The goal — according to newly released FBI documents with handwritten notes in the margin — was clear: “to get [Flynn] to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired.”
As my colleague Elizabeth Vaughn reported, Herridge posted the documents to Twitter Wednesday evening.
#FLYNN docs just unsealed, including handwritten notes 1/24/2017 day of Flynn FBI interview. Transcript: “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Read transcript notes, copy original just filed. @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/8oqUok8i7m
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) April 29, 2020
Conservative commentators, like Georgia GOP Rep. Doug Collins, immediately weighed in.
Wow.
The evidence couldn’t be any clearer: The FBI completely set up General Flynn.
He should be exonerated, and the rogue FBI agents MUST be held accountable.https://t.co/yRpvxkIwVn
— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) April 29, 2020
In December of 2017, Robert Mueller, as part of his investigation into Russia collusion by the Trump campaign, accepted a plea deal in which Flynn pleaded guilty to “willfully and knowingly” making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI concerning his conversations with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn has since filed to withdraw that plea and his powerhouse attorney Sidney Powell has been trying to get her hands on these documents for some time. With their release, Sean Davis at The Federalist reminds us there are more players in this story of intrigue than a weaponized FBI.
Accusations that Flynn was a traitor to his country who violated the 1799 law gained steam following the criminal leak of top-secret information to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Ignatius’ sources suggested the routine conversation between a top incoming White House adviser and his foreign counterparts might be a Logan Act violation. As absurd as the suggestion was, Ignatius dutifully parroted it.
News reports indicate U.S. Attorney John Durham is currently investigating the sources of those criminal leaks of top secret national security information to Ignatius.
In a tweet following the release of the documents, Flynn silently reminded us all of his conviction as an innocent man and that, through it all, he has apparently never lost faith in the country he loves. But I’ll let the tweet speak for itself.
— General Flynn (@GenFlynn) April 29, 2020
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