The Department of Justice on Thursday moved to dismiss the federal case against Michael Flynn following the revelation of gross government corruption and abuse against the former national security adviser.
After charges were brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, but recently unsealed documents revealed that the FBI agents’ interview with Flynn was a perjury trap all along. Handwritten notes from FBI agents who ambushed Flynn at the White House without his attorneys present show that their goal was “to get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired.”
In its motion to dismiss the criminal charges, the DOJ said the recently unsealed documents not only conclude the FBI had no proper predication for launching its investigation, but now call into question whether there is sufficient evidence that Flynn actually lied to FBI agents during their Jan. 24, 2017, White House interview.
“The Government is not persuaded that the January 24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis and therefore does not believe Mr. Flynn’s statements were material even if untrue,” the motion reads. “Moreover, we do not believe that the Government can prove either the relevant false statements or their materiality beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The previously undisclosed documents revealing the FBI agents’ intentions all along are a result of Attorney General William Barr appointing an outside U.S. attorney, Missouri-based U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, to review the Flynn investigation. Last week, Jensen recommended Barr drop the case.
“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said in a statement. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”
The DOJ’s motion to dismiss recounts the timeline of the FBI’s Flynn investigation and concluded Flynn’s conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak “were entirely appropriate on their face.” The DOJ also concluded that “proof of a false statement to federal investigators under Section 1001(a)(2) requires more than a lie,” and that the law which Mueller charged Flynn of violating is written in such a way that it “prevents law enforcement from fishing for falsehoods merely to manufacture jurisdiction over any statement–true or false.”
DOJ Motion To Dismiss Corru… by The Federalist on Scribd
