Oh, Look Whose Names Popped Up in These New Docs About the FBI's Michael Flynn Fiasco
Source: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Well, I guess we shouldn’t be shocked to hear from these two again. Disgraced FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, Lisa Page, a former bureau lawyer, exchanged tens of thousands of texts bashing Trump and placing the credibility of the FBI as an impartial investigator in peril. No, let’s not be that generous. They ruined it. Strzok was a key player in two of the FBI’s most sensitive investigations in recent memory: the counterintelligence probe into Russian collusion, which he reportedly signed off on, and the analysis of Hillary Clinton’s email server. The “lovebirds” as some call them were worried that the bureau was going too hard on Hillary Clinton. Did they pull punches? Was the “insurance policy” they discussed with another disgraced former FBI official, Andrew McCabe, the Trump dossier, which was fraught with inaccuracies and cited as credible evidence in securing a FISA spy warrant against Carter Page, a former Trump campaign official? Strzok tried to say the texts showed his patriotism. Cue the eyerolls. Page was a bit more honest, saying they meant what they say.
So, with these two characters neck-deep in anti-Trump activities within the DOJ, should it shock us that they conspired to keep the investigation into Michael Flynn open, despite the fact that the case against him was laughable. No. Here they are again (via NY Post):
Disgraced anti-Trump FBI lovebirds Lisa Page and Peter Strzok conspired to keep the case against Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn ongoing when they found out it hadn’t been formally closed, new documents show.In a tranche of court documents released after the Justice Department dropped its case against Flynn on Thursday, emails between then-lovers Strzok and Page in 2017 revealed they contemplated charging Flynn using the Logan Act as the FBI was preparing to end the investigation.Two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, Strzok — one of the lead agents on the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — sent senior FBI lawyer Page a definition of the Logan Act, saying any existing rules on the act “does not involve incoming administrations.”Page replied: “You are awesome. Thank you.”[…]The emails were sent on the same day that Strzok, then FBI Deputy Assistant Director, learned that the investigation had not been closed in a timely manner, leaving it “unexpectedly, still formally open,” the court papers charge.Strzok relayed the “serendipitously good” news to Page, telling her, “our utter incompetence actually helps us.”
1)Here's another important--if largely overlooked--aspect of the new Flynn documents. One new email has former FBI lawyer Lisa Page meditating on how FBI shud deal with its "policy" of giving an admonishment to targets about the penalties of lying to law enforcement
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2) She asks if "policy" requires an admonition up front, or only when a subject offers a false statement. She wonders if FBI couldn't skirt the rule by agents just "casually" slipping in the admonishment to Flynn. The clear suggestion is that maybe they can not make a deal of it
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3) But let's remember that, in the end, according to Andy McCabe documents, the FBI decided to give NO admonishment whatsoever. Flynn was never warned about lying, and also was discouraged from having lawyer, after the FBI also deliberately set up meeting outside of WH counsel.
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4) So if we are to believe Page, this was an outright violation of FBI "policy" on admonishments. How often does FBI conduct interviews and not make that warning? I'd wager--given Page email--really, never.
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These are the small but important questions that matter in a case like this. If Flynn was treated differently than other FBI subjects, the judge needs to know. FBI policy is there for a reason. The agents don't just get to ignore it because they deem it a more serious/urgent case
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So, the FBI seemed to be closing the book on this comical pursuit of Flynn, until Strzok-Page opened their anti-Trump mouths. Typical. Oh, and the Logan Act angle, well, that’s just cute:
Especially enjoy this DOJ "motion to dismiss" absolutely shredding Logan Act truthers, who are perhaps among the most annoying people on the internet
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The entire Mike Flynn saga -- the manufactured controversy, media leaks, his resignation/firing, and later guilty plea -- was a huge factor in why the "Russia scandal" became so all-consuming. Now the basis for the entire episode has been 100% proven to be a complete farce
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I mean, the DOJ’s motion to dismiss the case against Flynn is just…here’s the Wall Street Journal editorial board’s summary of it, which was the topic of their op-ed:
The filing recounts how the FBI had concluded in late 2016 that there was no evidence that Mr. Flynn had colluded with Russia. But the FBI kept the investigation open after it received a transcript of Mr. Flynn’s conversation with the Russian ambassador to the U.SMr. Comey and his loyalists then set up Mr. Flynn in an interview despite having no legal basis. The documents show that Mr. Comey told his deputies not to inform the White House general counsel of the visit and not to tell the White House about his conversation with the ambassador. They also show that Mr. Comey worked around senior Justice officials, including Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who thought the White House should be informed. As he did with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Hillary Clinton’s emails, Mr. Comey acted as if he was a law unto himself.At the time the agents admitted they did not think Mr. Flynn was lying to them. But as the Justice filing notes, without a legitimate investigative purpose, whether Mr. Flynn was lying was immaterial. He should never have been prosecuted.Yet Mr. Mueller, who knew all this soon after becoming special counsel, pursued Mr. Flynn, threatening him and his son with ruin until he got the guilty plea. The prosecutor on the case, Brandon Van Grack, was part of Mr. Mueller’s team and consistently denied there was relevant material the government had not turned over to the defense.
Yeah, there needs to be another special investigation into what the hell went on with the Mueller probe. And heads have to roll. No slap on the wrists—a metaphorical guillotine must be wheeled out to take care of some careers here because malfeasance was done willingly to try and hamstring an incoming administration. More scalps from the DOJ are needed. Period.
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