Thread: Flynn says FBI pushed him not to have lawyer present during interview

Flynn says FBI pushed him not to have lawyer present during interview

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In a bombshell court filing Tuesday, attorneys for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn alleged that then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe pushed Flynn not to have an attorney present during the questioning that ultimately led to his guilty plea on a single charge of lying to federal authorities.

The document outlines, with striking new details, the rapid sequence of events that led to Flynn's sudden fall from the Trump administration. The filing also seemingly demonstrates that the FBI took a significantly more aggressive and subversive tack in handling the Flynn interview than it did during other similar matters, including the agency's sit-downs with Hillary Clinton and ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos.

According to Flynn's legal team, FBI agents deliberately refused to instruct Flynn that any false statements he made could constitute a crime, and decided not to "confront" him directly about anything he said that contradicted their knowledge of his wiretapped communications with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

If “Flynn said he did not remember something they knew he said, they would use the exact words Flynn used, . . . to try to refresh his recollection," FBI agents wrote in a so-called "302" witness interview report cited by the filing. "If Flynn still would not confirm what he said, . . . they would not confront him or talk him through it.”

McCabe -- who was fired earlier this year for making unauthorized media leaks and violating FBI policy -- wrote in a memorandum that shortly after noon on Jan. 24, 2017, he called Flynn on his secure line at the White House, and the two briefly discussed an unrelated FBI training session at the White House. Quickly, the conversation turned to a potential interview, according to an account provided by McCabe that was also cited in the Tuesday filing.

Ex-FBI official Peter Strzok texted Lisa Page in December 2016 that he was worried about others 'leaking like mad'; Catherine Herridge reports on the latest revelations.

McCabe said that he told Flynn he “felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down” to discuss his contacts with Russian officials.

“I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between [Flynn] and the agents only," McCabe wrote. "I further stated that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House Counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the Department of Justice. [General Flynn] stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants."

Explaining why Flynn was not warned about the possible consequences of making false statements, one of the agents wrote in the 302 that FBI brass had "decided the agents would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed, and they were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the rapport."

That tactics were apparently in sharp contrast to the FBI's approach to interviewing former Trump aide George Papadopoulos, who also pleaded guilty to making false statements and was recently released from prison. In a court filing last year, Special Counsel Mueller's team took pains to note that FBI agents who interviewed Papadopoulos on January 27, 2017 -- just days after the Flynn interview -- had advised Papadopoulos that "lying to them 'is a federal offense'" and that he could get "in trouble" if he did not tell the truth.

The revelations in the court filing, if accurate, would also sharply differ from the FBI's handling of its interview with then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, during the height of the presidential campaign. Clinton brought a total of nine lawyers to her interview -- a number that fired FBI Director James Comey said was "unusual ... but not unprecedented" in House testimony in September.

A scathing report released earlier this year by the Department of Justice's Inspector General (IG) found that the FBI had taken actions "inconsistent with typical investigative strategy" by allowing former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and ex-campaign staffer Heather Samuelson to sit in on the Clinton interview -- even though "they had also both served as lawyers for Clinton after they left the State Department."

In fact, the IG wrote, FBI officials fretted about how many FBI representatives should be at the interview, for fear of prejudicing Clinton against the agency if, as expected, she went on to become president.

“[S]he might be our next president," FBI attorney Lisa Page wrote, in urging that the number of people at the interview be limited to four or six. "The last thing you need us going in there loaded for bear. You think she’s going to remember or care that it was more doj than fbi?”

The IG report further noted: “Witnesses told us, and contemporaneous emails show, that the FBI and Department officials who attended Clinton’s interview found that her claim that she did not understand the significance of the ‘(C)’ marking strained credulity. (FBI) Agent 1 stated, ‘I filed that in the bucket of hard to impossible to believe.’"

In his fateful interview at the White House with since-fired anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok and another FBI agent, Flynn "clearly saw the FBI agents as allies," according to the 302, which was dated Aug. 22, 2017 -- nearly seven months after the actual interview.

It was unclear why the document, with is ostensibly a contemporaneous account of the interview, was dated in August.

According to the 302, Flynn was “relaxed and jocular” as he gave the agents a "little tour" of his West Wing office. (McCabe reportedly testified later that the agents, after speaking with Flynn, “didn’t think he was lying" at the time.)

In his report on FBI and DOJ misconduct during the Russia and Clinton probes, the IG additionally noted that Strzok, who was one of the two agents who interviewed Flynn and who was later also fired for violating FBI policies, had compromised the FBI's appearance of impartiality by sending a slew of anti-Trump texts on his government-issued phone.

Former FBI director James Comey claimed to not know or remember key details in Russia case; panel reaction on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

“In particular, we were concerned about text messages exchanged by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Special Counsel to the Deputy Director, that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” the IG report said.

In one of those texts, Strzok wrote to Page in 2016 that Trump would not become president because "we'll stop" it from happening.

Flynn was fired as national security adviser in February 2017 or misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his contacts with Russian officials. In arguing that Flynn should receive no more than a year of probation and 200 hours of community service for making false statements to federal investigators, his lawyers Tuesday emphasized his service in the United States Army and lack of criminal record.

In a sentencing memo earlier this month, Special Counsel Robert Mueller recommended a lenient sentence -- with the possibility of no prison time -- for Flynn, stating he has offered "substantial" help to investigators about "several ongoing investigations."

Meanwhile, Comey revealed in closed-door testimony with House Republicans on Friday that he deliberately concealed an explosive memorandum about his one-on-one Oval Office meeting with President Trump in February 2017 from top Department of Justice officials.

The former FBI head also acknowledged that when the agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government in July 2016, investigators "didn't know whether we had anything" and that "in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn't know whether there was anything to it."

His remarks square with testimony this summer from former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, whose anti-Trump texts became a focus of House GOP oversight efforts. Page told Congress in a closed-door deposition that "even as far as May 2017" -- more than nine months after the counterintelligence probe commenced -- "we still couldn't answer the question" as to whether Trump staff had improperly colluded with Russia.

Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fly...tements-charge

So that's why Flynn went to the interview without an attorney. The FBI is corrupt.

Pardon Flynn, Mr. President. Full Pardon. Clear his name. Most Americans do not want to see our fellow citizens spied on, targeted, framed, manipulated, squeezed, tricked, bankrupted, terrorized, arm-wrestled, or destroyed by the US Department of Justice for any reason, let alone, for free speech and/or supporting a candidate for President who the FBI agents and a Special Counsel don't like.

The FBI Collusion To Destroy General Michael T. Flynn

Dec 17, 2018 Read More Articles by Kelleigh Nelson

I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within. —Douglas MacArthur

You’ve got the NSA doing all this collecting of material on all of its citizens – that’s what the SS, the Gestapo, the Stasi, the KGB, and the NKVD did. —William Binney

There’s a plot in this country to enslave every man, woman and child. Before I leave this high and noble office, I intend to expose this plot. —President John F. Kennedy, seven days before his assassination

Former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell wrote the ultimate book on a core group of federal prosecutors who broke all the rules, made up crimes, hid exculpatory evidence, and sent innocent people to prison. Ms. Powell knows the enemy inside our gates.
Her book, Licensed to Lie, debunks everything the media and the government told us about the Department of Justice’s destruction and prosecution of the venerable accounting firm Arthur Andersen, Merrill Lynch executives who did one business transaction with Enron, Alaska Senator Ted Steven’s, and more. The ramifications continue today as this corrupt cabal of former prosecutors now populates powerful political positions.

Still in the news today―Robert Mueller’s “Pitbull” Andrew Weissmann and other members of Obama’s inner circle―are wreaking havoc on our Republic. Powell’s book is the one that began exposing “the Deep State.”

Emmet G. Sullivan United States District Judge for the District of Columbia ordered an independent investigation of the Department of Justice, which revealed its corrupted prosecution of United States Senator Ted Stevens.

Judge Sullivan is General Michael Flynn’s sentencing judge.
The Corrupt DOJ
It is fairly well documented that the FBI framed General Flynn. Flynn was financially destroyed by the FBI/Mueller war against him and it’s clear that the Deep State not only did not want him to be Trump’s National Security Advisor but that it also sought to destroy Flynn as well as Trump’s presidency.
The former three-star general pleaded guilty last year to a single count of lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Now we know from General Flynn’s court filing to Judge Sullivan that senior bureau officials acted in a way to set him up for the fall.
Mike Flynn apparently believed the call from the FBI was to be a normal meeting between administration officials, that he and Strzok were just going to “shoot the breeze,” but he was sandbagged by Agents Strzok and Pientka…both of whom, along with former FBI Director Comey, said Flynn never lied. Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was doing the bidding of her boss, President Barack Hussein Obama by sending the agents to “interview” Flynn. See Chapter 9 of Gregg Jarrett’s book, The Russia Hoax.
Obama had fired General Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and subsequently told President elect Donald Trump not to hire him. Knowing this, I’m surprised President Trump didn’t reject a resignation from General Flynn and fight to keep him on staff.
Barack Obama and the corrupt Department of Justice wanted the General eliminated from the Trump administration. Why? Because General Michael T. Flynn spent 33 years as an intelligence officer, and he knew the corruption in the Obama administration and the DOJ. They were scared of him, and as such he had to be destroyed. Establishment insiders like Pence, Priebus and others likely helped to accomplish their goal.
Not a rich man after decades in uniform, General Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017 to one count of lying to the FBI about his telephone conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. He did this to avoid bankruptcy and allegedly to spare his son from becoming a Mueller target. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday 12/18.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sentencing recommendation is here. Flynn’s plea to Judge Emmet Sullivan is here. You should read both carefully.
Judge Emmet Sullivan Requests Documents
One day after former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s legal team made the bombshell allegation that the FBI had pushed him not to bring a lawyer to his fateful Jan. 24, 2017 interview with agents at the White House, Judge Sullivan is demanding answers from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered Mueller late last Wednesday to turn over all of the government’s documents and “memoranda” related to Flynn’s questioning by 3:00 p.m. EST on Friday December 14th. Mueller waited until the last minute on Friday and then sent heavily redacted documents to Judge Sullivan.
It is always a bad idea to defy a federal judge, especially one with a reputation and a history of vigilance against law enforcement and prosecutorial abuse and who has previously thrown out convictions that resulted from abuse. Mueller failed to give Judge Sullivan the FBI 302 interviews of General Flynn. FBI 302’s are written accounts of interviews by the agents.
Kimberly Strassel’s recent WSJ article indicated it was Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe who called General Flynn on other business and then suggested he sit down with two agents to clear up the Russia question. McCabe urged General Flynn to conduct the interview with no lawyer present to make things easier. The entire thing reeks of entrapment.
The court filing refers to a McCabe memo written the day of the meeting, as well as a 302 FBI summary of the Flynn interview. Congressional Republicans have been fighting to obtain these documents for over a year, and apparently Judge Sullivan did not receive the memo or the original 302s. The date on the Flynn 302 was August 22, 2017, seven months after the interview. Strzok’s texts and Comey’s testimony both indicated the 302 was written long before this. So, was it edited in the interim, and if so by whom and at whose direction?
Judge Sullivan also ordered the Flynn team to turn over the documents backing up its assertions. The judge could determine why the FBI apparently took a significantly more aggressive tack in handling the Flynn interview than it did during other similar matters, including the agency’s sit-downs with Hillary Clinton and ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos.
Federal judges consistently strike down President Trump’s Executive Orders. Judge Emmet Sullivan has a stellar reputation for being a straight shooter and he is certainly not obligated to follow prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations.
Sullivan’s move might delay General Flynn’s December 18^th sentencing date, or lead to other dramatic and unexpected changes in the case. Sullivan even has the authority to toss Flynn’s guilty plea and the charge against him if he concludes that the FBI interfered with Flynn’s constitutional right to counsel.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller
Congressman Louie Gohmert wrote a 15,500 word document entitled, Mueller Exposed, revealing Mueller’s sordid past and his modus operandi. Louisiana State Senator, John Milkovich wrote a book entitled, Robert Mueller: Errand Boy for the New World Order, which documents Mueller’s career of cover-ups, corruption and unconscionable conduct…an ever-willing instrument of the Deep State. It is available from Amazon.

On December 14^th, Breitbart exposed that Mueller had deleted thousands of text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page from the iPhone of fired FBI agent Peter Strzok before turning it over to the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG), according to a report released by the federal watchdog.
Mueller’s team had determined “it contained no substantive text messages.” Lisa Page’s phone was scrubbed and lost for an entire year before it was turned over. Link
Given what we know about Strzok, this smells like quite the coverup. Time for Congress to step in, but they’ve never received from the DOJ what they have continually requested despite threats and subpoenas.
The Gateway Pundit has reported that former Deputy Attorney General under Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein, will not allow General Flynn interrogator, Joe Pientka to testify despite his reported willingness to defend Michael Flynn. The Mueller Special Counsel redacted Joe Pientka’s name in the 302 reports. According to investigative journalist Sara Carter, Pientka is willing to defend General Flynn in his testimony.
Obama’s Minions Still Reside in the DOJ
The outrageous actions of the DOJ are certainly not limited to the ever-expanding Mueller witch hunt. Just last month, 16 FBI agents raided the home of a protected DOJ whistle blower who had delivered documents pertaining to the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One to a government watchdog.
It was Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein who boldly suggested he wear a wire to record the President and suggested invoking the 25^th Amendment to remove the President from office. Why wasn’t this man fired along with Jeff Sessions?
The thousands of text messages admitting flagrant anti-Trump bias exchanged between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were wiped clean by the Mueller witch hunt before turning their phones over to the DOJ Inspector General.
The disgraced former head of the FBI, James Comey, who is now teaching ethics at William and Mary College, orchestrated the leaks of the memos he took of his meetings with President Trump to the media and who, of course, sent over those two investigators from the FBI to interview General Michael T. Flynn via Sally Yates for former President Barack Hussein Obama.
Court Documents
Attorney Gregg Jarrett of Fox News says, “The court documents are rich with corruption of the FBI and to some extent to the DOJ. They admit in the 302 documents that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn told the truth. So, the question that Judge Emmet Sullivan should ask on Tuesday is, ‘Mr. Mueller why are you prosecuting and why did you charge a guy who your own agents interviewed and determined told the truth?’”
No one has been held to account in the Obama administration for what was clearly an unprecedented surveillance of the White House staff, the incoming administration and in particular General Flynn. President Donald Trump was absolutely right when he stated that the Obama administration had wiretapped him and his people.
Conclusion
Years ago, national talk radio host Roger Fredinburg interviewed attorney Fred Gray who was the lawyer for the surviving men of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. When host Fredinburg asked Mr. Gray why the monetary award was so small, attorney Gray said this, “When the judge hearing the case works for the people you are suing, it’s nearly impossible to get justice.”
Judge Emmet Sullivan has never stood for prosecutorial misconduct. Let’s pray he sees the truth this time as well and General Michael Flynn gets true justice.
© 2018 Kelleigh Nelson – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Kelleigh Nelson: Proverbs133@bellsouth.net



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