Joe Biden offered incomplete answers in two interviews this week when questioned about his knowledge of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn during the Obama administration.
The former vice president, who was present during a small Oval Office meeting in early January 2017 where the U.S. government intercept of communications between Flynn and a Russian envoy was discussed and who was the apparent recipient of “unmasking” intelligence on Flynn a week later, has sought to distance himself from the investigation into Trump’s first national security adviser.
During a Thursday interview on MSNBC, host Lawrence O’Donnell asked the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee about the Flynn case, following the Justice Department’s decision to move to dismiss its criminal case against Flynn.
“Mr. Vice President, what was your involvement in the investigation of Michael Flynn and the FBI investigation of Michael Flynn?” O’Donnell asked.
Biden replied: “I was never a part or had any knowledge of any criminal investigation into Flynn while I was in office. Period. Not one single time.”
O’Donnell didn’t follow up.
An unmasking request with Biden as the authorized recipient was made or received on Jan. 12, 2017, the latest date listed on the newly declassified NSA document. That is the same day the Washington Post published a column containing leaked classified details from Flynn’s call with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Biden’s campaign claimed “none of these individuals could have known Flynn’s identity beforehand” and condemned the “gross politicization of the intelligence process.”
Byron York, the Washington Examiner’s chief political correspondent, pointed out Friday morning that Biden “gives carefully limited answer” by only specifying he did not know of any criminal investigation. A counterintelligence investigation was active against Flynn for more than five months before Biden left office.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas tweeted, “Ask him if he knew of a counter-intelligence investigation.”
The Justice Department distinguished between counterintelligence and criminal investigations and pointed to an early January 2017 FBI document that repeatedly stated the bureau turned up “no derogatory information” on Flynn.
“Believing that the counterintelligence investigation of Mr. Flynn was to be closed, FBI leadership (“the 7th Floor”) determined to continue its investigation of Mr. Flynn on the basis of these calls and considered opening a new criminal investigation based solely on a potential violation of the Logan Act,” Washington, D.C.’s U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea told the court. “The FBI never opened an independent FBI criminal investigation.”
Newly unsealed FBI documents showed former FBI agent Peter Strzok, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, and others sought out ways to continue investigating Flynn.
The FBI initiated a counterintelligence investigation into Flynn, dubbing him “Crossfire Razor,” in summer 2016 as part of its Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference and any collusion with the Trump campaign. Although former FBI Director James Comey hinted to top DOJ officials that he was considering a criminal investigation into Flynn, it does not appear the Justice Department officially moved in that direction until Robert Mueller became special counsel, long after Biden left office.
“By adding the qualifier ‘criminal’ to describe the type of investigation, Biden is denying any knowledge of something that did not exist, and he is avoiding answering for the counterintelligence investigation that actually did exist,” Trump campaign deputy director of communications Matt Wolking said. “Why?”
Biden sidestepped a similar question Tuesday, audibly sighing on ABC’s Good Morning America as George Stephanopoulos asked what he knew about the Flynn investigation and whether there was anything improper done.
“I know nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” Biden said. “This is all about diversion.”
Stephanopoulos followed up, noting Biden was at the Jan. 5, 2017, meeting where Comey discussed the Flynn intercepts.
“I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted,” Biden replied. “I was aware that there was, that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it.”
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told Mueller’s team she first learned of the Flynn recordings from Obama himself following a White House meeting about the intelligence community assessment. Obama asked Yates and Comey to stay behind with Biden and national security adviser Susan Rice.
Yates told investigators that Comey mentioned the Logan Act in the context of the intercepted Flynn-Kislyak conversations and may have used the word “investigation.”
On Jan. 20, 2017, the day of Trump’s inauguration, Rice penned an internal memo on the meeting. “President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the intelligence and law enforcement communities by the book,” Rice emailed herself.
Earlier this year, Flynn’s legal team cited the Justice Department watchdog’s report on the FBI’s Russia investigation to argue for the case to be dismissed.
“The IG report simultaneously documents at least some of FISA process abuses and misconduct against Mr. Flynn,” lead defense counsel Sidney Powell told a federal court in February.
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 for lying to investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador but told the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., this year that “in truth, I never lied” and “I am innocent of this crime.”
Powell said, “the case against Mr. Flynn should be dismissed immediately for this egregious abuse of power” laid out in Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report, pointing to a revelation showing the intelligence briefing the FBI gave to Trump’s team in August 2016 was actually a “pretext” to gather evidence for the counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s campaign and Flynn. The FBI agent who led that briefing, known as “SSA 1” but believed to be FBI supervisory special agent Joseph Pientka, accompanied Strzok in their controversial interview of Flynn in January 2017.
Horowitz’s report stated, “We concluded that the FBI’s use of this briefing for investigative reasons could potentially interfere with the expectation of trust and good faith among participants in strategic intelligence briefings, thereby frustrating their purpose.”
Flynn’s defense team considers the January 2017 interview to be a setup by Comey and disputes the accuracy of the FBI’s interview notes — claims Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack rejected as “conspiracy theories.”
