Trump calls Michael Flynn a hero after GM drops charges
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TOP LINE
After the relocation of the Ministry of Justice to lower costs against Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about Russian contacts President Trump celebrated the news on Thursday and embarked on a rant against the Justice Department under President Obama, claiming that the department’s investigation into Flynn was a betrayal.
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 07: US President Donald Trump (R) addresses reporters at the Texas welcome … [+]
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HIGHLIGHTS
In december 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, but new recommendations to Attorney General William Barr from outside attorney Jeff Jensen accused the FBI of mismanaging the case .
“It’s a betrayal,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday at an Oval Office meeting minutes after the Justice Department’s decision was announced. “The people should pay a high price.”
Regardless of Trump’s opinion, treason, which carries a death penalty, has a strict definition: “Anyone who, swearing allegiance to the United States, makes war on them or adheres to their enemies, bringing them aid and comfort in the United States or elsewhere.” “
Trump has hurled insults at the old administration, calling them “crooked and dishonest people” and “human scum”, while claiming that the media are “very complicit” and that the people who won Pulitzer for their reporting do not are “not journalists, they are thieves”. “
Trump has repeatedly called the election interference investigations a “hoax,” but the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee last month reiterated that Russia tried to get him elected in 2016.
Trump, who had previously said he would be willing to bring Flynn back to the White House, also praised Flynn, calling him an “innocent man”, “great gentleman” and “hero.”
Key context
The motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn has yet to be heard by a judge. In 2017Flynn was fired from his White House post after making false statements about his relationship with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, federal investigators, White House officials and the media. Flynn admitted to participating in talks before Trump’s inauguration, which included the relaxation of Russian sanctions instituted by the Obama administration. Mueller did not recommend any jail time for Flynn because of the “substantial” help he gave in 19 interviews. Pleading guilty, Flynn said “I recognize that the actions that I admitted in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to make things right … I accept full responsibility for my actions. “
On the same day the Justice Department decided to drop the charges, Trump had a phone call with the Russian President Vladimir Poutine on arms control issues, oil prices and “to commemorate and reflect on the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day”.
Crucial quote
Trump and Flynn’s team clung to the new unseal documents which they claim to illustrate the corruption in Flynn’s charge. Handwritten notes from the FBI detail how they will conduct an interview with Flynn in 2017. “What is our goal? Truth / Admission or make him lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired? If we make him admit the Logan Law, give the facts to the DOJ and make them decide. Or, if he initially lies, then we present him [redacted] and he admits it, documents for the DOJ and lets them decide how to fix it.
The notes also say, “If we are seen to be playing games, [White House] will be furious. Protect our institution by not playing games … We regularly show evidence to subjects, in order to get them to admit their wrongdoing. I don’t see how getting someone to admit their wrongdoing becomes easy for them.
Tangent
This is not the first time that Trump has accused the Obama administration of treason. Around the same time last year, Trump tweeted: “My presidential campaign was conclusively spied on. Nothing like this has ever happened in American politics. A very bad situation. BETRAYAL means long prison terms, and it was BETRAYAL! ” At the time, Carlton FW Larson, professor of law at the University of California Davis, told the Washington post, “This is completely ridiculous and, I think, extremely inappropriate, given that one of the purposes of the treason clause was to protect Americans discussing and criticizing their government … It was very clear – one one reason to limit the offense the way it was done in Article III was to prevent it from being a political tool where those in power use it to suppress their political enemies.
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