White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany pushed back on Joe Biden’s claim that the dropped charges against Michael Flynn and President Trump’s focus on the case are a “diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is all about diversion. This is a game this guy plays all the time,” Biden told Good Morning America on Tuesday when asked about the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case against the former national security adviser.
“The country is in crisis. We’re in an economic crisis, a health crisis, we’re in real trouble,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee added. “He should stop trying to always divert attention from the real concerns of the American people. The American people are worried, with good reason. He has acted irresponsibly from the very beginning.”
McEnany joined Fox & Friends following Biden’s interview and was asked by co-host Brian Kilmeade, “Is it a distraction to bring up the Michael Flynn case and do you have answers you need to get from Joe Biden?”
“Look, it is not a distraction to bring this up,” the White House press secretary responded. “Any time the FBI writes down on a piece of paper, asking whether their motive in interviewing someone, if their end goal is to ‘get someone to lie,’ in this case getting Michael Flynn to lie, that should trouble each and every American.”
“And they go on to say, ‘So that we can get him fired.’ This is incredible what the FBI did and again,” she continued, “It’s not our hardworking rank and file at the FBI — those men and women are heroes. This was some of the top officials in the Obama era, and there are very real questions now that we know that President Obama was aware of the Flynn unmasking and the former vice president, too.”
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 that he was “innocent of this crime.” He filed to withdraw his guilty plea after the Justice Department asked the judge to sentence him to up to six months in prison. The department later said probation would also be appropriate.
The Justice Department filed to dismiss criminal charges against Flynn last week. Flynn’s lead attorney, Sidney Powell, cited newly released documents that raised questions about the extent to which Obama was privy to the actions taken by the FBI. Interview notes showed 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 phone calls with the Russian diplomat.
