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HOUSE GOP LONGSHOT BID FOR PRIESTAP, PIENTKA. Capitol Hill Republicans were rocked by the release of documents showing FBI officials gaming out the January 24, 2017 White House interview of national security adviser Michael Flynn. “What is our goal?” handwritten notes before the interview said. “Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” The documents showed the bureau considered either setting a perjury trap for Flynn, or trying to have him ousted from his job — whatever the case, a very bad look for the nation’s premier law enforcement outfit.
Of course, Republicans want to know more. That is a problem on the House side, where the GOP is in the minority and Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler runs the Judiciary Committee. Suffice it to say that Chairman Nadler has zero interest in learning more about the suspicious circumstances of the Flynn interview. Pull on that string too hard, and there’s no telling what one might find. Better to leave it alone, if you’re a Democrat.
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So on May 4, top House Judiciary Committee Republicans Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray. They asked to interview Bill Priestap, the bureau official who wrote the notes, and Joe Pientka, the agent who, along with the notorious Peter Strzok, actually questioned Flynn. Jordan and Johnson got no response. Crickets. Perhaps they thought that since they are Republicans, and Wray is a Republican appointee in a Republican-led Justice Department, then the director might at least acknowledge their existence. They were wrong.
So now, Jordan and Johnson are trying something different. On Monday they wrote directly to Priestap’s personal attorney in New York. “The FBI discouraged Lt. Gen. Flynn from having a lawyer present for the interview and also ignored standard procedures for interviewing a White House employee,” the GOP lawmakers wrote. “The Justice Department now acknowledges that the FBI had no legitimate investigatory basis to interview Lt. Gen. Flynn at all.” Therefore, Jordan and Johnson said, please contact us to schedule Mr. Priestap’s interview as soon as possible. The lawmakers sent a similar letter directly to Pientka.
What are the chances it will work? Not good. Neither Priestap nor Pientka really have to listen to what the minority says. That’s just a fact of life on the Hill. But some Republicans are at a “boiling point” about the Trump-Russia document situation, according to one plugged-in aide. They’ve seen the release of material about the Flynn case that should have been made public years ago. They want to know why the FBI and Justice Department acted as they did.
And most of all, they’re hoping to get lucky. No, they have no authority to compel anyone to testify. But sometimes if you ask, a witness will just answer on his or her own. It’s rare, but it has happened before. And what if it doesn’t? Republicans will have to put all their hope in Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham, who hasn’t exactly been aggressive on the investigation front. Or they can wait — and pray — for the Durham investigation to reveal what Congress, even when Republicans were in power, could never find out on its own.
