FBI Agent on Flynn Case Believed Prosecution Was Used by Mueller Team to ‘Get Trump’
An FBI agent who participated in the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn told the Justice Department that the initial prosecution of Flynn seemed to be based on a desire to “get Trump,” according to a document filed by the DOJ on Friday.
The Justice Department filed as part of the ongoing Flynn case the FBI 302, or interview summary, of a September 17 interview of agent William Barnett conducted by Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen. Attorney General William Barr had asked Jensen to go over the case against Flynn, and Jensen has since joined U.S. Attorney John Durham in a probe of the origins of the Russia investigation.
Barnett told Jensen he thought the case against Flynn, who was investigated over alleged ties to Russian operatives, was “opaque” and operated “with little detail concerning specific evidence of criminal events.”
Barnett further stated that he was “still unsure of the basis of the investigation concerning Russia and the Trump campaign working together, without a specific criminal allegation,” after working for six weeks on the Flynn investigation.
Flynn was pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of lying to federal investigators. However, Flynn reversed his plea in early 2020, and in May the Justice Department decided to drop its case against the former adviser.
“Barnett believed Flynn lied in his interview to save his job, as that was the most plausible explanation and there was no evidence to contradict it,” the FBI 302 reads. “Barnett believed the prosecution of Flynn by Mueller’s office was used as a means to ‘get Trump.'”
