Opinion | Bill Barr Twisted My Words in Dropping the Flynn Case. Here’s the Truth.
Mary B. McCord
“But the report of my interview is no support for Mr. Barr’s dismissal of the Flynn case. It does not suggest that the FBI. had no counterintelligence reason for investigating Mr. Flynn,” wrote McCord. “It does not suggest that the FBI’s interview of Mr. Flynn — which led to the false-statements charge — was unlawful or unjustified. It does not support that Mr. Flynn’s false statements were not material. And it does not support the Justice Department’s assertion that the continued prosecution of the case against Mr. Flynn, who pleaded guilty to knowingly making material false statements to the FBI, ‘would not serve the interests of justice.'
“Notably, Mr. Barr’s motion to dismiss does not argue that the FBI. violated the Constitution or statutory law when agents interviewed Mr. Flynn about his calls with Mr. Kislyak,” she said. “It doesn’t claim that they violated his Fifth Amendment rights by coercively questioning him when he wasn’t free to leave. Nor does the motion claim that the interview was the fruit of a search or seizure that violated the Fourth Amendment. Any of these might have justified moving to dismiss the case. But by the government’s own account, the interview with Mr. Flynn was voluntary, arranged in advance, and took place in Mr. Flynn’s own office.”