Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s lawyer accused former President Barack Obama of playing a role in framing her client.
Sidney Powell, Flynn’s lead attorney, joined Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures to discuss her belief that FBI officials “orchestrated” a plan to set up Flynn.
“These agents specifically schemed and planned with each other how to not tip him off, that he was even the person being investigated. … So they kept him relaxed and unguarded deliberately as part of their effort to set him up and frame him,” Powell said.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian envoy. After switching legal teams, Flynn told the court in January of this year that he was “innocent of this crime” of lying to federal agents. He filed to withdraw his guilty plea after the Justice Department asked the judge to sentence him to up to six months in prison — though afterward, the department said probation would also be appropriate. Powell pressed for the dismissal of his case by arguing that the FBI unfairly treated Flynn.
The Justice Department filed to dismiss criminal charges against Flynn last week. The federal judge overseeing the case will make the final decision on whether to dismiss it.
Powell cited newly released documents raised questions about the extent to which Obama was privy to the actions taken by the FBI. Interview notes show former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was surprised in January 2017 to learn from Obama, not former FBI Director James Comey, details about Flynn’s intercepted phone calls with the Russian diplomat.
“The whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, [former Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper, [Former CIA Director John] Brennan, and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama,” Powell said.
“So do you think this goes all the way to the top, to President Obama?” Bartiromo asked.
“Absolutely,” Powell responded.
A tape of the former president was leaked last week to Yahoo News in which Obama warned members of the Obama Alumni Association against the Justice Department’s move to dismiss Flynn’s criminal case.
“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” Obama said.
“And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for somebody who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic, not just institutional norms, but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places,” he added, misstating that Flynn was charged with perjury.
