President Trump said Thursday that it is “great thing” and “an honor” that a federal judge is reviewing the FBI’s questioning of fired national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“The FBI said Michael Flynn, a general and a great person, they said he didn’t lie. And Mueller said, well, maybe he did. And now they’re all having a big dispute. So, I think it’s a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation. That’s an honor for a lot of terrific people,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump fired Flynn in February 2017, weeks after taking office, after the retired Army general allegedly misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty last year to a single felony count for lying to the FBI about two Dec. 2016 conversations with Kislyak.
On Wednesday, however, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered special counsel Robert Mueller to turn over documents on the FBI’s questioning of Flynn, who is seeking to avoid jail time.
Sullivan is known for overturning the 2008 corruption conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, after finding prosecutorial misconduct.
Flynn contends he was pressured not to bring an attorney to an interview with the FBI.
Flynn’s legal team says former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrote in a memo: “I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between [Flynn] and the agents only. … I further stated that if [Flynn] wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House Counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the Department of Justice. [Flynn] stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants.”
McCabe was fired this year by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions after a Justice Department inspector general report found McCabe lied to FBI agents and to then-FBI Director James Comey. He has not been charged with a crime.
Although Flynn pleaded guilty only to lying to the FBI, he acknowledged during a December 2017 court hearing that he made “false statements and omissions” in paperwork he filed with the Justice Department regarding his lobbying work for Turkey’s government.
At his guilty plea hearing, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras told Flynn prosecutors will request less punishment than sentencing guidelines recommend “if and only if” he provides substantial assistance “in the prosecution of another person.” Contreras later recused himself from the case without explanation. An inspector general report later revealed that Contreras was a social contact of Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who sent anti-Trump messages to his mistress, Lisa Page, while helping lead the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
