'Divorced from the facts': DOJ shoots down claims Strzok and the FBI trapped Flynn
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
T he Justice Department shot down claims by former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn’s lawyers that former FBI agent Peter Strzok and others at the bureau “set up” their client in a court filing.
Flynn’s attorneys alleged in a filing last week their client was trapped by Obama administration holdovers such as former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in an effort to hobble newly elected President Trump, that Strzok and the other agent “ambushed” Flynn, and that Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page manipulated the FBI interview notes so they could claim Flynn had lied when he hadn’t.
"Each contention is divorced from the facts," federal prosecutors said in a 46-page filing Friday.
The dispute, which has long simmered in pro-Trump circles, centers around an interview of Flynn by Strzok and an unnamed FBI investigator at the White House during the chaotic first days of the Trump administration in which Flynn allegedly misrepresented conversations he’d had with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about Russian sanctions and a vote at the United Nations. Flynn pleaded guilty later that year to lying to investigators during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and had cooperated with the government until June, when he fired the legal team who cut his plea deal. Flynn's new attorneys include conservative former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, who said the DOJ "extorted" Flynn's plea.
“The interviewing agents repeatedly sought to prompt the defendant to provide a truthful response,” wrote U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, who detailed the interaction in the filing.
“Such conduct demonstrates that the agents were not in search of a crime, but the truth about what had happened and why — which the defendant failed to provide,” she wrote. “Had they wanted to ‘trap’ the defendant into a false statement charge, they would not have prompted him repeatedly to correct his statements.”
Flynn’s lawyers had pointed to what they believed were discrepancies between the notes by the two FBI agents, drafts of the 302, and the final 302 itself, alleging the documents had been “manipulated.”
The DOJ also dismissed concerns about alleged discrepancies between drafts of the interview notes, calling the changes "largely grammatical and stylistic."
“The interviewing agents’ handwritten notes, interview report, drafts of the interview report, and statements are consistent and clear that the defendant made multiple false statements to the agents about his communications with the Russian Ambassador on January 24, 2017,” Liu wrote.
Flynn's lawyers argued the 2017 interview was improper because “the FBI knew that its questions had nothing to do with ‘Russian interference’ in the election.”
But the DOJ countered that, at the time, the FBI was running a counterintelligence investigation at the time into any connections between the Kremlin and Trump’s campaign.
“The defendant’s conduct and communications with Russia went to the heart of that inquiry,” Liu wrote. “The defendant’s false statements inhibited the FBI’s ability to obtain that critical information, raised questions about why the defendant would lie to the FBI about such communications, and fundamentally influenced the FBI’s investigative activity going forward.”
Flynn’s legal team also claimed that the government had sought to edit out Strzok’s remark that Flynn had “a very ‘sure’ demeanor and did not give any indicators of deception” during his interview. But the DOJ argued there was no evidence that the government concealed this evidence and claimed that Flynn not seeming to lie didn’t mean he hadn’t, especially since he had apparently misled others about the same topic.
“There is ample public evidence that the defendant also convincingly lied to other government officials about his conversations with the Russian Ambassador,” the DOJ said.
“The defendant made the same false statements to the Vice President, White House Chief of Staff, and White House Press Secretary, each of whom repeated the defendant’s false statements on national television.”
Trump said he asked for Flynn’s resignation in February 2017 because Flynn hadn’t been honest with the vice president about his discussions with Kislyak.
Powell told the Washington Examiner on Friday that “the prosecutors dwell in an imaginary alternative universe” and that “nothing excuses their conduct in this case — and apparently there indeed was an earlier 302.”
“Stay tuned for our reply,” Powell added.
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Flynn's lawyer is a conspiracy nut and a bamboozler.
Bet you'd love having him defend you on something though.
Does one really find this "News Worthy", when it comes to a lawyer defending a client ?
It's a woman. Glad to see you are up to speed on this topic.
That's a great rebuttal.
Does one comment on an article that one labels as, "not newsworthy", for any reason at all?
Only if "one" is drowning in that river in Egypt...
Whaaaat ?
[Trolling]
I'm a liking the Mississippi River myself !
Are you always Anti-American Travel ?
It's newsworthy when the DoJ produces the evidence and publishes it own findings to the court and the public.
Maybe the Judge will rule Mr. Flynn incompetent for pleading guilty originally...
more opinion? Color me shocked. /s
An opinion from Trump's Justice Department!
No, it hasn't. Have you read the report? The report clearly lays out team Trumps connections with Russia. Since most republicans in congress haven't read it, I'd be surprised if any conservatives here have. Parroting Trump's 'hoax' bs does nothing to prove your point. Since his sycophants can't tell or don't care when Trump lies, we can't expect them to know the truth when it hits them upside the head. (Consequence of supporting a pathological liar)
Truth..
Did you miss this part of the seed:
“The interviewing agents’ handwritten notes, interview report, drafts of the interview report, and statements are consistent and clear that the defendant made multiple false statements to the agents about his communications with the Russian Ambassador on January 24, 2017,” Liu wrote.
The Judge is privy to every one of those documents and since Liu is an officer of the court, he would be putting his ass in a sling if he misrepresented those documents.
I can't figure out why you and your fellow travelers defend Flynn when he is obviously guilty and he's sworn to that fact. Oh and then there is the fact that the Feds will let him off with a slap on the wrist. IMHO, they should nail him.
Seriously, all Flynn has to do is withdraw his guilty plea. When he does that the wolves will be loose and we'll see what his 'star' legal team can do for him then.
If I were not allowed to reply to your comments, there would not be a reply tab for me to click.
I'm pretty fucking sure that the whole point of courts is a judgement and that means the opinion of a Judge is integral.
Speaking of ignorance, if YOU were not allowed to reply to ME, there would be no reply tab there either.
Oh and BTFW, since my first reply to you was 12 hours ago and remains in the thread, I assume that it passed muster.
So YOU want to post your comments but demand that I don't post mine. WTF!
BTFW, what lead you to the unfounded conclusion that Judge Lui hasn't been able to review the interviewing agents’ handwritten notes, interview report AND drafts of the interview report?
Have you read the briefs? How about the filings and hearing transcripts? Did you read where Flynn admitted in open court that he lied to the FBI multiple times? How about where he swore to the Judge that the FBI did NOT entrap him?
Come on loki, share your vast knowledge of the fine details of Flynn's case.
Yet through all your laughing, you still can't support your claim that the Judge hasn't been presented that evidence.
First of all, I'd venture to say that MOST people here have a 3 digit IQ. I won't vouch for EVERYONE though.
Secondly, in cases where sensitive and classified information is involved, like Flynn's, Judges regularly take documents that have NOT been presented as evidence in open court into consideration for their rulings. Evidence can be filed under seal or can be viewed 'in camera'.
Hope those facts don't strain those 3 digits.
The ARE in evidence, they are just under seal and not available to the public. Here's a source even YOU will accept.
doj-files-documents-under-seal/
Opps.
Oh so you are under the delusion that defense attorneys can't review documents under seal.
So it's your hilarious posit that the documents aren't in evidence but Flynn's lawyers allege that they had been manipulated?
READ THAT VERY SLOWLY.
Word.
Give it a few hours and the right will claim that Barr is a RINO, liar, liberal, Muslim, etc...
Flynn lied to the FBI under oath. It's a crime.
Fox fake news was claiming a couple of months ago that Flynn was caught in a "perjury trap". Easy way to avoid those traps? Tell the truth.
Obama fired Flynn because he said he couldn't trust Flynn. Obama also cautioned trump to not hire Flynn for the same reason. But trump, not one to take advice from....anyone, hired Flynn anyway... Didn't seem to work out too well.
Reality has bit the damn gop's lying behinds, again...
Trump & Co came under the US Intelligence Services radar when they highly inappropriately reached out to known agents of Russia State Intelligence Services over 100 times seeking information on Democrats, offering to sell insider information, influence and access and still angling to build Trump Towers in Moscow.
Any honest inquiry will determine this is true, again...
That's nutso. What Clinton fanzine do you get this silliness from?
All if them...
Get back to us when you have citations...
Do your own research on a subject, once!
Wow! You need to read and understand your own source
The FBI had been investigating Carter Page's shady contacts with know agents of Russian State Intelligence Services since before Trump's campaign even began. Read it and weep...
I understand this. Please educate yourself...
Sounds like you didn't if you are trying to say it didn't lay out connections between Trump's team and Russia.
Here is some more, Mueller interview notes. Trump will do ANYTHING to get dirt on opponents, he did in the last election and is doing it now. From foreign sources.
Here is a link to the released notes:
Do you read your sources? You certainly don’t understand them if you think they provide evidence of the falsehoods you posted above.
No wonder you keep changing them, because they don’t support the nonsense you posted above. Read what you wrote above and then read your links. They don’t matchup.
Please stop gaslighting the forum with falsehoods.
What has Carter Page been charged with again? Jack shit of nothing. In case you hadn't heard. Carter Page was well known by the FBI and CIA and had worked with both in the past.
Anyone that thought that Carter Page was a spy deserves to be fired and have their pensions revoked. Page was nothing more than a Trojan Horse for the FBI to spy on Trump.
So educate yourself first.
BENGHAZI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carter Page blah fucking blah
Attempted collusion in plain sight.
Yep, when the Democrats have the ball, they own the court. The referees take a break and have a cup of tea. The Democrats can do no wrong and can not be charged with fouls, but when the Republicans have the ball, everything changes. The referees trip em right before they make the score and give em a foul for falling on the floor. Yep, it's good to be a Democrat.
Point?
He LIED. He admitted that he KNEW that LYING to the FBI was a CRIME. WTF!