Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley described newly released FBI documents related to the investigation into President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn as a “chilling blueprint” on how officials tried to entrap him on “blatantly unconstitutional grounds.”
“Michael Flynn was a useful tool for everyone and everything but justice: Mueller, the media, even the court,” Turley tweeted along with an opinion piece he wrote for the Hill. “What is left in the wake of the prosecution is an utter travesty of justice.”
Michael Flynn was a useful tool for everyone and everything but justice: Mueller, the media, even the court. What is left in the wake of the prosecution is an utter travesty of justice … https://t.co/mbcXIqBMmp
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 30, 2020
Turley, a self-described liberal who testified during the impeachment proceedings against President Trump, was responding to documents released Wednesday revealing discussions between the agents investigating Flynn.
“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,” an FBI official wrote in one of the notes “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, argued the documents further undermine both the legitimacy and motivations of the FBI officials in charge of the case.
“For those of us who have long seen a concerted effort within the Justice Department to target the Trump administration, the fragments will read like a Dead Sea Scrolls version of a ‘deep state’ conspiracy,” Turley wrote.
“The new documents also explore how the Justice Department could get Flynn to admit breaking the Logan Act, a law that dates back to from 1799 which makes it a crime for citizens to intervene in disputes between the United States and foreign governments,” he continued. “It has never been used to convict a citizen and is widely viewed as flagrantly unconstitutional.”
Turley pointed out that there was nothing illegal about the communication Flynn had with Russian officials, and it was “utterly absurd” to use the “abusive” Logan Act in his case.
“Justice demands a dismissal of his prosecution,” Turley concluded in his piece. “But whatever the ‘goal’ may have been in setting up Flynn, justice was not one of them.
