Bombshell Flynn files helping Durham build 'serious case'
Art Moore
Communicating 'daily' with Barr about probe of Obama FBI, DOJ
May 1, 2020
Attorney General William Barr (Justice Department)
The files unsealed this week in the Michael Flynn case showing FBI officials discussed trying to get the former national security adviser to lie are bolstering the "serious case" the Justice Department is building against FBI and DOJ officials who carried out a counter-intelligence "Russia collusion" probe of the Trump campaign in 2016.
Sources who spoke to Fox News said charges could be justified against officials, and Attorney General Bill Barr is speaking regularly with U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is leading the investigation.
"Durham has seen all of this already," a source told Fox News, adding the Flynn evidence "could be sufficient for some charges against agents."
"It's a crime to present under oath false or misleading information," the source told Fox News. "Not to mention obstruction of justice."
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"They're building a very serious case,” another source told Fox News."
Among the evidence unsealed this week in the Flynn case is a handwritten note by the FBI's former head of counterintelligence, Bill Priestap, showing agents discussed whether they should try "to get [Flynn] to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired."
Also, a memo shows disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok reopened the investigation into Flynn after it had been closed due to a lack of evidence.
The closure was three weeks prior to the controversial "ambush" interview of Flynn at the White House that resulted in him being charged with perjury.
In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI regarding his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. But after firing his lawyers, a new legal team moved to withdraw the plea, armed with evidence it claimed would show that Flynn was framed.
Barr initially commissioned Durham to review the events during the 2016 campaign and through Trump's Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration. But Durham has since expanded the scope to the spring of 2017, when Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel.
Sources who spoke to Fox News said more exculpatory documents are forthcoming as Barr monitors the probe.
"Barr talks to Durham every day," a source said. "The president has been briefed that the case is being pursued, and it's serious."
'They think they’ve got it'
Priestap took his notes after a meeting, prior to the Flynn interview, with then-FBI Director James Comey and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
The notes suggested agents considered getting Flynn "to admit to breaking the Logan Act" when he spoke to former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.
The obscure Logan Act has never been successfully used in a criminal prosecution. It's purpose is to prevent individuals from falsely claiming to represent the United States government abroad.
Flynn made no such admission.
A source told Fox News it's "disturbing to Durham" that "there weren't any whistleblowers" in FBI and Justice Department under President Obama who came foward at the beginning of the Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign in 2016.
The Durham investigation could end as soon as July, according to one source. But another thought it would be closer to September, noting progress could be hindered by the coronavirus pandemic.
"If they don’t have it, they're not going to bring it," another source told Fox News. "But they think they’ve got it."