Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday he is “inclined more than ever” to believe retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn did not intentionally mislead him about his conversations with a Russian envoy, which was a reason cited by President Trump for asking him to resign as national security adviser in early 2017.
He made the comments after the FBI records released on Thursday have been touted by Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, as exculpatory evidence heretofore concealed from the defense team. They show that now-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and others in the FBI’s leadership stopped the bureau from closing its investigation into Flynn in early January 2017 after investigators had uncovered “no derogatory information” on him. Emails from later that month show Strzok, along with then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page and several others, sought out ways to continue investigating Flynn.
“I think Gen. Michael Flynn is a patriotic American who served with great distinction in the armed forces of the United States. And I’m deeply troubled by the revelations of what appear to have been investigative abuse by officials in the Justice Department — and we are going to continue to look into that very carefully. But my respect for Gen. Flynn personally, for his service to the country, is undiminished,” Pence told reporters. “And I’m inclined more than ever to believe that what he communicated to me back during the transition leading to our inauguration was unintentional and that he was not attempting to misrepresent facts.”
Pence said he believes there was “investigative prosecutorial abuse that is coming to light” and “people need to be held to account,” but noted that a pardon would be a decision for the president to make.
Flynn, 61, is fighting to dismiss the government’s case against him. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to investigators about his conversations with Kislyak about sanctions on Russia and a United Nations resolution on Israel. The FBI intercepted Flynn’s discussions with Kislyak, after which Strzok and another agent, believed to be Joseph Pientka, grilled him on the contents of the conversation on Jan. 24, 2017.
The vice president’s comments about Flynn on Thursday stand in contrast to those he made in December 2017, when CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked: “When he was fired, did you know he had lied to the FBI?”
Pence answered: “What I can tell you is I knew he lied to me. And I know the president made the right decision with regard to him.”
Flynn told the court earlier 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 is pressing for the dismissal of his case by arguing that the FBI unfairly treated Flynn.
Pence’s feeling that he was misled by Flynn stemmed from events in December 2016, after Trump had defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Obama administration responded to Russia’s election interference by expelling 35 Russian officials and leveling sanctions against Russia on Dec. 29, 2016. The same day, Flynn spoke with Russia’s ambassador.
The next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin declined, saying, “While we reserve the right to take reciprocal measures, we’re not going to downgrade ourselves to the level of irresponsible kitchen diplomacy.” Trump tweeted: “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!”
The Obama administration reportedly learned of the calls between Flynn and Kislyak on Jan. 2, 2017, since the U.S. government was monitoring them. David Ignatius wrote a piece in the Washington Post on Jan. 12, 2017 revealing the existence of classified details from those calls, claiming that Flynn “cultivates close Russian contacts,” citing a “senior U.S. government official” who revealed when Flynn talked to Kislyak.
U.S. Attorney John Durham is reportedly looking into that Flynn leak.
Flynn assured Pence the story was not true, and Pence relied on Flynn’s claims when he denied the story’s veracity during a Face The Nation appearance on Jan. 15, 2017.
Host John Dickerson cited the Ignatius piece and asked Pence: “Did the Flynn conversation help pave the way for that more temperate Russian response?”
Pence said he “talked with Gen. Flynn about that conversation” and “it was actually initiated when on Christmas Day he had sent a text to the Russian ambassador to express not only Christmas wishes but sympathy for the loss of life in the airplane crash that took place.” The vice president said Flynn told him, “It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation” and “they did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”
A few weeks later, Flynn admitted the information he gave Pence and others was incomplete and tendered his resignation on Feb. 13.
“Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the vice president-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador,” Flynn’s resignation letter said. “I have sincerely apologized to the president and the vice president, and they have accepted my apology.”
The next day, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer explained Flynn’s departure.
“We got to a point, not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue, where the level of trust between the President and General Flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change,” Spicer said. “The president was very concerned that General Flynn had misled the Vice President and others … The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the President to ask for General Flynn’s resignation.”
Trump told reporters on Thursday he “would certainly consider” bringing Flynn back into his administration. He also said he did not think he should have to pardon Flynn because the newly presented evidence might lead to the case being tossed.
Flynn agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation. The defense team that negotiated the plea deal was fired, and since taking over last summer, Powell has argued that “there never would’ve been a plea, to begin with” if Flynn knew how much information the Justice Department was hiding from him.
Former FBI Director James Comey admitted he took advantage of the chaos in the early days of Trump’s administration when he sent agent Strzok and another FBI agent to talk to Flynn. Records released on Wednesday included handwritten notes from Crossfire Hurricane leader Bill Priestap on the day the FBI interviewed Flynn, showing doubts about the strategy being pursued by others in the bureau.
“I agreed yesterday that we shouldn’t show Flynn [REDACTED] if he didn’t admit,” but, “I thought about it last night and I believe we should rethink this,” the FBI official wrote. “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
