Posted on 11/04/2019 6:23:53 AM PST by yesthatjallen
Despite the recent court filing by former national security adviser and retired Gen. Michael Flynn about altered FBI interview summaries, there is unlikely to be any revelation that will overcome his admission under oath that he did, in fact, lie.
As a former FBI agent of 23 years, I understand how vital it is for the FBI to obtain facts during a criminal investigation. It is a crime to lie to the FBI for this reason. The FBI’s right to know the truth, however, is not absolute. Before it seeks the truth, it must have a valid reason to do so.
It’s hard to see that reason in Michael Flynn’s case.
To be sure, Gen. Flynn pled guilty to misleading FBI agents about whether he discussed sanctions during his December 2016 telephone conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. I’m not sure why he misled agents. Maybe ample press accounts of possible Logan Act violations led Flynn to believe he might be prosecuted. Maybe he married himself to a false narrative he couldn’t change without embarrassing the incoming Trump administration.
Or, maybe, as the incoming national security advisor and a career intelligence official, his first instinct was to be purposely vague about the details of foreign policy discussions, which the FBI arguably had no need to know.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
What kind of BS is this? People are coerced into false testimony all the time. This clown does not sound at all like he is non-partisan. He took an oath and by this article, he thinks it is ok to violate it.
I’ve read speculation and tend to agree with it that the Russian sanctions were a setup to try and manufacture some Russian collusion. As soon as Obama announced sanctions, they knew the Russian ambassador would be on the phone to Flynn. At the time of the sanctions, I wondered why they didn’t let the incoming administration deal with the Russians. They didn’t give 2 cents about them during the election. Seemed real odd to me at the time..
This is the definition of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Can FBI agents perpetuate a lie against the FISA court? Did Hillary lie to the FBI? Did Comey lie to Congress?
Looks like these "laws" are being applied pretty narrowly.
Flynn didn’t think he lied, and the FBI didn’t think he lied either.
The FBI did not allow him to get counsel, and they went outside the rules when they bypassed White House counsel to speak with Flynn. It was unethical, it was a trap.
They altered the 302’s, agent interview notes, after the fact to make what he said an explicit lie.
Agent 302 notes should not be the basis of a perjury offense if they can be altered and therefore not subject to examination by defense counsel, yet they are. This is what happened to Flynn, and it is more Stalinist-Beria tactics of secret evidence, secret witnesses and secret judgments which has been the hallmark of the Obama Administration.
The entire exercise was a perjury trap, because the FBI already had tapes of his conversations, so it was done to see if he would lie.
The FBI came away from the meeting saying he didn’t lie and they did not prosecute.
It was Mueller who took it over and decided to prosecute.
They were going to bankrupt him and then put his son in prison. He was threatened with very harsh treatment for conversations that they already knew about, and were not criminal in any form, and they initially said he was honest. It is a political vendetta and extortion to get Trump.
They also withheld huge amounts of exculpatory evidence, (Brady Material), which would show a complete biased political attack on an innocent man.
There are two reasons for his prosecution, one is that he was working for Trump, and if he had turned Trump down none of this would have happened. This is being done for political reasons only. There is no security issue here.
The second reason is that Obama despised him because he totally destroyed the Iran deal foolishness, and Obama told Trump not to hire him. Trump did not listen.
Flynn is innocent. The charges are bullshit.
The corruption in the FBI runs deep. This organization rather than being “non-partisan” designed to protect the FBI from political influence, is exactly the opposite. Their goal is to deceive the American people and shield the corrupt Democrat co-conspirators still within the FBI. The perjury trap techniques develop to catch members of the mob have been weaponized to be used against their political enemies and this must be stopped.
Flynn pleaded guilty, under oath. Under oath, he agreed that he did what he was accused of doing, and that his plea was free, knowing and voluntary.
Either Flynn was telling the truth when he pleaded guilty, or he was not. If he was not, he committed perjury. There is no “understandable motivation” defense to perjury, like “I lied to help my son.”
Why is his lawyer not contesting the validity of his plea? Because all the foregoing is true.
Sworn statements under oath, especially those made freely, knowingly and voluntarily, and intended to bring the end of litigation for all the parties involved, count for something. In effect, a person is saying, I do not want to litigate this matter further, including anything not presently known to me.
Flynn pleaded guilty, and then when judges changed, the new judge spent time confirming that Flynn did not want to withdraw his plea, and that FLYNN himself agreed that he was IN FACT guilty. So Flynn in effect pleaded guilty twice.
The government took the plea agreeing that Flynn should do no time. Now, the government has backed off that agreement.
If Flynn does any time for this conviction, then he received very poor advice in deciding to litigate matters which had little chance of finessing a guilty plea, and a great chance of getting Flynn incarcerated.
Or, of having the judge vacate the plea and setting the matter down for trial, re-opening all sorts of bad possibilities.
This will turn out with a spectacular win, or with the reality that Flynn was poorly advised.
Agent 302 notes should not be the basis of a perjury offense
Because they can write anything they damn well please and their biases would affect how the notes were written. Until the FBI starts video taping interviews, no one should talk to them.
~~~~~~~~~~
Until the above are implemented, the FBI will remain an instrument of Prosecution, not Justice!
If Flynn does any time for this conviction, then he received very poor advice in deciding to litigate matters which had little chance of finessing a guilty plea, and a great chance of getting Flynn incarcerated.
Flynn wasn’t receiving poor advice. He was set up by his lawyer. No doubt in my mind.
Any “reform” legislation must start with the FIB losing 302 privileges.
Never never never talk to the FBI without an attorney present. Never.
I think we agree -- I thought that's what I said... '-)
Basically, a 302 should only be admissible in court IF it agrees with the video and audio recordings and court-recorder transcriptions thereof.
(My guess is that the above terrorizes the FBI: Imagine how many filings for re-trial would result if that were implemented...)
Same is true for all police interviews. 90% of everything the police have to prove in a criminal case is admitted, inadvertently, by a defendant before he knows he is a defendant and before he is read his rights.
The simplest of things can be pretty thorny to prove in a trial.
Proving “Joe is my cousin” can be a lot of work if the defendant did not say it. I saw a domestic violence case dismissed over whether the couple were actually married because the Probate Court Clerk failed to show up to authenticate the marriage certificate. And the lawyer (not me) had rfused any interviews.
No interviews with police of prosecutors, ever. Let the lawyer carry the message both directions.
His new lawyer said in a recent brief that his old law firm had a conflict of interest because they advised him on the FARA paperwork submission. They were going to charge him and his son with FARA violations if he didn't plea to the false statements charge. Flynn's business partner got the FARA charges thrown out after being wrongly convicted.
I replied to his tweet
Hell I’m the only one
I don’t eff with Twitter much it’s 80% tards
Now you’re on “The List”.
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