New court documents filed under seal include significant exculpatory information about Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser, an FBI official familiar with the situation told The Federalist on Friday. The new documents, which were filed under seal by the Department of Justice Friday, allegedly include exonerating evidence about Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his conversations with foreign diplomats as Trump’s top incoming foreign policy adviser and is currently attempting to withdraw his plea, as well as evidence of malfeasance by the FBI during its investigation of Flynn.
According to the FBI official who spoke to The Federalist, FBI general counsel Dana Boente led the charge internally against DOJ’s disclosure of the new materials. Boente, who briefly served as acting Attorney General after Trump became president, personally signed off on one of the federal spy warrants against former Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page. The new documents, which were filed under a protective order by DOJ on Friday, will reflect poorly on the FBI, the official told The Federalist. It is not clear when, or even if, those documents will be unsealed and made available to the public for review.
Because the documents were filed under seal, The Federalist has not been able to review them independently. Neither the Department of Justice nor the White House responded to requests for comment about the newly filed court documents or their legal or political implications. Trump has reportedly been weighing whether to issue a pardon for Flynn.
So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has “lost” the records of General Michael Flynn. How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2020
Multiple investigative reports issued by the DOJ Office of Inspector General revealed myriad instances of corruption by FBI officials throughout the multi-year investigation of Trump and his campaign. Former FBI director James Comey was even referred for criminal investigation by the inspector general. Attorney General William Barr, who was confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office last year, appointed a seasoned federal prosecutor to investigate and determine whether other DOJ or FBI officials broke the law in attempt to oust Trump from office.
The federal judge overseeing the government’s case against Flynn refused to throw out his conviction last year, but is still considering whether to allow Flynn to withdraw his guilty plea. Flynn has charged his previous counsel with a conflict of interest and ineffective counsel. Sidney Powell, Flynn’s current attorney, did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the matter.
Powell tweeted last month that the FBI was “still hiding evidence of Flynn’s innocence” and has noted repeatedly that the FBI has failed to produce the original written FBI account, known as a 302, of its agents’ conversation with Flynn that led to charges against him.
