Thread by @EpochTimes

News Analysis🔎The @EpochTimes has so far counted 85 “Unusual” instances for the case of Lt. @GenFlynn, which has been filled with contradictions, falsehoods, apparent blunders, extraordinary moves, and strange coincidences. (Thread👇) theepochtimes.com/flynn-case-85-…

The case of @GenFlynn is inevitably heading toward its conclusion.

While District Judge Emmet Sullivan is trying to keep it going, there’s only so much he can do since there’s nobody left to prosecute the case after the #DOJ dropped it last month. theepochtimes.com/doj-drops-case…

In the latest developments, the #WashingtonDC appeals court set a hearing in the case on June 12, while the #DOJ’s solicitor general himself, as well as 5 of his deputies, urged the court to order the lower-court judge to accept the case dismissal.

“I cannot overstate how big of a deal this is,” commented appellate attorney John Reeves in a series of tweets.

Personal involvement of the solicitor general “is highly unusual and rare,” he said.

The @FBI officially opened an investigation on @GenFlynn on Aug. 16, 2016, based on a suspicion that he “may wittingly or unwittingly be involved in activity on behalf of the Russian Federation which may constitute a federal crime or threat to the national security.”

What activity? The case was opened under a broader investigation into whether the #TrumpCampaign conspired with #Russia to steal @DNC emails and release them through @Wikileaks.

By its own admission, the @FBI had little reason to suspect the campaign. theepochtimes.com/document-that-…

The @FBI learned from #Australia's then-ambassador to the UK, Alexander Downer that @GeorgePapa19 “suggested” the campaign received “some kind of suggestion” that #Russia could help it by anonymously releasing some information damaging to @HillaryClinton.

The @FBI didn’t know what @GeorgePapa19 actually said or what he was talking about.

Officially, this info was used by #FBI to comb through its databases for info on people associated with the #TrumpCampaign and open investigations on 4 individuals supposedly linked to #Russia.

Because #Flynn’s paid speaking engagements in years past included some for #Russian companies, the @FBI decided to open a counterintelligence investigation on the retired three-star general.

But the #FBI seemed to have trouble getting its story straight.

1. Comey Contradiction
@FBI officially opened the 4 individual cases in mid-August 2016.

But former Director @Comey testified he was briefed already “at the end of July that the FBI had opened counterintelligence investigations…”

2. Unlikely Target
“Mike Flynn’s impact on the nation’s War on Terror probably trumps any other single person.”

Suspecting a man with patriotic bona fides of @GenFlynn’s caliber of having colluded with #Russia based on 2 speaking engagements seemed particularly unusual.

3. A Name for the Spotlight
The #Russia probe was titled “#CrossfireHurricane,” and @GenFlynn was given the code name “Crossfire Razor.”

This was unusual, according to 27-year veteran of the #FBI @MHRuskin. “They would mock [that name] as being overly dramatic,” he said.

4. Snooping During Briefing
The day after opening the @GenFlynn case, the @FBI participated in a strategic intelligence briefing given to Donald Trump and two of his advisers by the @ODNIgov.

5. Dossier Coincidence
The @FBI directly targeted 4 Trump campaign aides, opening cases on 3 of them—@GeorgePapa19, @CarterWPage, and Paul Manafort—on Aug. 10, 2016.

The @JusticeOIG never received an explanation for why the @GenFlynn case was opened later.

Incidentally, #Flynn’s name was last of the 4 to be mentioned in the #SteeleDossier on Aug. 10, 2016.

The #CrossfireHurricane team told the IG they only received the dossier in September 2016, but there are indications they may have been aware of it earlier.

6. Halper Coincidence
One of the #CrossfireHurricane case agents, Stephen Somma, happened to have a longstanding relationship with Stephan Halper, a @Cambridge_Uni professor who was also a longtime political operative and @FBI informant.

Somma learned that, in a stunning coincidence, Halper was already in contact with @CarterWPage, had known #Manafort for years, and “had been previously acquainted with Michael Flynn,” the #IGReport said

The #CrossfireHurricane team “couldn’t believe [their] luck,” Somma said.

7. Halper’s Story
Halper was accused of spreading rumors, starting in late 2016, that @GenFlynn had an affair with a Russian woman while visiting the UK in 2014 for a dinner hosted by the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar co-convened at the time by Halper.

An “established” @FBI informant told the #CrossfireHurricane team that the woman jumped in a cab with #Flynn after the dinner.

The woman was #SvetlanaLokhova, a Cambridge historian of Russian descent. She has denied the rumor. theepochtimes.com/how-svetlana-l…

Lokhova said Halper was the one spreading the rumor to the media and the @FBI, even though he didn’t actually attend the event. She unsuccessfully sued Halper for defamation in May 2019. theepochtimes.com/fbi-informant-…

8. Unmasking
The names of Americans are normally masked in foreign intelligence reports.

There were dozens of #Unmasking requests for reports related to @GenFlynn, between Nov. 8, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017. The number of unmasking requests has been described as alarming by some.

9. Non-masking
There are also indications that @GenFlynn’s name was never masked in summaries or transcripts of his calls with then-#Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 29, 2016, and in the following days.

10. Who Briefed Obama?
@Comey testified to Congress that it was then-@ODNIgov James Clapper who briefed #Obama on the #Flynn–Kislyak calls. Clapper, however, denied this to Congress. courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

11. ‘Unusual’
Obama’s #NationalSecurity adviser, Susan Rice, memorialized a Jan. 5, 2017, meeting with #Obama, @Comey, and then-Deputy AG Sally Yates.

Rice wrote that Obama asked Comey whether he should withhold any #Russia-related info from the Trump admin, Flynn in particular.

12. Late Memo
#SusanRice’s memo itself is unusual. She emailed it to herself more than 2 weeks after the meeting took place, on the day of Trump’s inauguration.

13. Strzok Intervention
On Jan. 4, the @FBI was already in the process of closing #Flynn’s case. But the bureau’s counterintelligence operations head at the time, #PeterStrzok, scrambled to keep it open, noting that the “7th floor,” meaning the FBI’s top leadership, was involved.

14. McCabe–Comey Contradiction
@Comey testified that he authorized the #Flynn case “to be closed at the…end of December, beginning of January.”

But his then-deputy, #AndrewMcCabe, told Congress that they weren’t in “the closing planning phase” at the time.

15. Shaky Theory
@FBI docs and @Comey’s testimony indicate that the bureau kept the #Flynn case open solely based on a legal theory that he may have violated the #LoganAct, even though the #DOJ made clear that such charges wouldn’t pass muster in court.

16. Call Leaks
In early January, information about #Flynn’s calls with Kislyak was leaked to then-@WashingtonPost reporter @AdamEntous.

17. Denial
The calls “had nothing whatsoever to do with the sanctions,” incoming VP @MikePence said on Jan. 15, 2017.

This wasn’t completely true. Kislyak did bring up the issue of #Sanctions during the call with #Flynn, though Flynn didn’t engage him on the topic.

#Flynn raised the issue of the expulsions, which is technically a separate issue from #Sanctions, though both were announced at the same time.

He asked for “cool heads to prevail” and for #Russia to only respond reciprocally.

18. ‘Blackmailable’
Yates said she wanted to inform Trump’s @WhiteHouse about the Kislyak calls as #Russia would know that what @VP said wasn’t true and could thus blackmail #Flynn with the info, according to an Aug 15, 2017, @FBI report from her interview with the #Mueller team.

According to @MHRuskin, this was hardly a blackmail situation, which ordinarily involves serious compromising information.

@Comey acknowledged to Congress in March 2017 that the idea that @GenFlynn was compromised struck him “as a bit of a reach.”

19. Comey Blocked Information
Despite issues with Yates’s argument, informing the @WhiteHouse may have indeed cleared up the situation.

However, @Comey blocked it, saying it could have interfered with the investigation of @GenFlynn—despite apparently nothing to investigate.

20. Another Comey–McCabe Contradiction
In the days before Jan. 24, 2017, top @FBI officials were discussing plans to interview @GenFlynn.

@Comey said the point of the interview was to find out why #Flynn didn’t tell Pence that #Sanctions were discussed during the call.

#AndrewMcCabe, however, told a different story when then-Rep. Trey Gowdy asked “Was [Flynn] interviewed because the Vice President relied upon information from him in a national interview?”

“No. I don’t remember that being a motivating factor behind the interview,” McCabe said.

21. No Mention of Pence
During the interview, the agents didn’t ask @GenFlynn about what he did or didn’t tell Pence—an unusual approach if the point, as @Comey said, was to find out why Flynn hadn’t “been candid” with Pence.

22. Slipped-In Warning
Agents regularly warn interviewees that lying to federal officers is a crime. Before the @GenFlynn interview, however, McCabe’s special counsel emailed an @FBI lawyer asking how the warning should be given and if there was a way to “casually slip that in.”

23. No Warning
In the end, the agents never gave @GenFlynn any such warning.

24. ‘Get Him to Lie…Get Him Fired?’
The @FBI officials agreed that the agents wouldn’t show #Flynn the #Transcripts of the calls.

Then-FBI head of counterintelligence Bill Priestap told other officials to “rethink” the approach: “We regularly show subjects evidence.”

25. Discouraging Having a Lawyer Present
On the day of the interview, #AndrewMcCabe told #Flynn he wanted the interview done “as quickly, quietly, and discreetly as possible.”

If #Flynn wanted anybody to sit in, the #DOJ would have to be involved, McCabe told him.

26. No White House Notice
An @FBI interview of a president’s #NationalSecurity adviser is a big deal. Normally, it would warrant a back-and-forth between the @WhiteHouse and the bureau on the scope, content, purpose, and other parameters.

27. No Notice Given to DOJ
According to Yates, @Comey didn’t consult the #DOJ about his intention to interview @GenFlynn, even though the department would usually be involved in such decisions.

28. Not Quite a Denial From Flynn
@Comey said that #Flynn denied talking to the ambassador about the #Sanctions.

But the agents’ notes indicate that though @GenFlynn denied it at first, he seemed unsure when the agents asked again.

29. UN Vote Denial
Based on the agent’s notes, @GenFlynn did deny asking for #Russia to delay a #UnitedNations vote in Israeli settlements. One of the call #Transcripts indicates he in fact made such a request.

30. No Indication of Deception
The agents came back with the impression “that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying,” according to #PeterStrzok.

@Comey seemed on the fence. “I don’t know. I think there is an argument to be made that he lied,” he testified.

31. Flynn Knew They Knew
According to McCabe, @GenFlynn expressed awareness before the interview that @FBI knew exactly what he said during the Kislyak calls.

“You listen to everything they [Russian representatives] say,” Flynn said, according to McCabe’s notes from that day.

32. Belated Report
The @FBI interview summary, form FD-302, is required to be completed within 5 days of the interview. #Flynn’s, however, took more than 2 weeks.

33. Rewritten 302
#PeterStrzok texted Page on Feb. 10, 2017, he was “trying to not completely rewrite” the 302 “so as to save [redacted] voice.” The redacted name was most likely Pientka’s.

34. Missing Original
#Flynn was ultimately provided 2 draft versions of the 302—one from Feb. 10, 2016, and one from the day after. But based on #Strzok’s texts, there should have been at least two draft versions produced on Feb. 10, 2016, or before.

@GenFlynn’s current attorney, former federal prosecutor @SidneyPowell1, later said she’d found a witness who saw an earlier draft and that it said “that Flynn was honest with the agents and did not lie.”

35. No Reinterview
It is common that when the @FBI has questions after an interview about the candor of the subject, it would question the person again. But in this case, the #FBI showed no interest in doing so.

36. Still Investigating What?
After the interview, @Comey promptly agreed to Yates informing the @WhiteHouse about the call #Transcripts. @GenFlynn was fired 2 weeks later. But, somehow, the investigation was still not over.

37. FARA Papers
Around Christmas 2016, @GenFlynn found in the office of his defunct consultancy, Flynn Intel Group (FIG), a letter from the #DOJ telling him he may need to file foreign lobbying disclosures under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

38. Comey Memo
@Comey wrote in a personal memo that Trump told him in private in February 2017 that he hoped Comey could “let Flynn go.”

Trump denied saying that. Trump’s lawyers have argued that the president didn’t know at the time that #Flynn was still under investigation.

@Comey’s leaking the content of this and other memos to the media served as a catalyst for then-Deputy AG @RodRosenstein appointing former @FBI head Robert #Mueller as a special counsel to take over the #CrossfireHurricane probe.

39. Rosenstein’s Scope Memo Still Alludes to Logan Act
Even though @Comey said in March 2017 that the @FBI wasn’t investigating #Flynn for a #LoganAct violation, #Mueller received in August 2017 a mandate from Rosenstein to probe whether Flynn “committed a crime or crimes by…

…engaging in conversations with Russian government officials during the period of the Trump transition.” That appears to be an allusion to the #LoganAct.

40. Lawyers Delay Informing Flynn?
By mid-August 2017, Covington learned that prosecutors were looking at @GenFlynn’s #FARA filings. But the lawyers didn’t inform #Flynn until weeks later, according to his current lawyer, @SidneyPowell1.

41. Conflict of Interest
Convington faced a conflict of interest in @GenFlynn’s case, because it was in their interest to say any problems with the #FARA papers were #Flynn’s fault, while it was in Flynn’s interest to say the lawyers were responsible.

Covington and the #Mueller team agreed the firm can continue to represent @GenFlynn if they tell him about the conflict and he consents to it. @SidneyPowell1 said the conflict was so serious bar rules required the lawyers to withdraw.

42. Lawyers Don’t Take Responsibility
In #Flynn’s situation, it would have been the ethical thing to do for the lawyers to take responsibility for any problems with the #FARA papers, according to @SidneyPowell1. But they didn’t do that.

43. Lawyers Express Apprehension About Being Targeted Themselves
The Covington lawyers on several occasions expressed concern that #Mueller may target them with a crime-fraud order.

Leading @GenFlynn into the plea allowed the firm to avoid it.

44. Perilous Interviews
In early November 2016, #Mueller prosecutors, led by Brandon Van Grack, wanted #Flynn to sit down for a series of interviews.

The lawyers noted that this could have been dangerous for @GenFlynn, yet ultimately agreed to make Flynn available.

45. Belated Consent
Covington only asked @GenFlynn for consent with their #ConflictOfInterest in writing on Nov. 19, 2017, after #Flynn had already been through 2 days of interviews with the prosecutors.

46. Wrong Standard
The consent request, sent via email, cited the wrong bar rule for handling of conflicts. The correct rule “creates a much lower threshold at which a lawyer must bow out,” said @SidneyPowell1 in a court filing.

47. Innocent but Guilty
The Covington lawyers repeatedly said they didn’t think @GenFlynn was guilty of a felony.

They were also told that #Strzok and #Pientka “saw no indication of deception” on #Flynn’s part. But the lawyers still convinced Flynn that he should plead guilty.

48. Threat to Son
According to @GenFlynn’s declaration, the Covington lawyers told him that if he didn’t plead, the prosecutors would charge his son with a #FARA violation, because the son worked for #Flynn’s firm and was involved in the Turkey project.

49. 302 Not Shared
The prosecutors refused to share with @GenFlynn the 302 from his January interview until shortly before he agreed to plead. Also, they only shared the final version of the report, which was significantly different from its previous drafts, #Flynn later learned.

50. Strzok Texts Understatement
Shortly before @GenFlynn signed his plea, the prosecutors disclosed to his lawyers that one of the agents who interviewed #Flynn (#PeterStrzok) was being investigated by the @JusticeOIG for potential misconduct.

They also disclosed that the agent expressed “a preference for one of the candidates for President.”

This was far from covering the bombshell the #Strzok texts actually were, @SidneyPowell1 noted.

51. Lawyers Never Told Flynn?
@GenFlynn said the Covington lawyers never told him that the @FBI agents didn’t think he lied. Even after he specifically asked about the agents’ impression, the lawyers didn’t disclose the information.

52. Statement of Offense Inaccurate
As part of his statement of offense, @GenFlynn affirmed that FIG’s #FARA papers contained 3 false statements and one omission.

Yet, on all 4 points the statement of offense was inaccurate, @SidneyPowell1 demonstrated.

53. Lawyers Knew
In an internal email 3 days before #Flynn signed his plea, a Covington lawyer pointed out that some of the “false statements” attributed to @GenFlynn were “contradicted by the caveats or qualifications in the filing.”

54. Judge Recusal
@GenFlynn entered his plea on Dec. 1, 2017. Shortly after, the judge who accepted the plea, Rudolph Contreras, recused himself from the case. The apparent but undisclosed reason was likely his personal relationship with #PeterStrzok.

55. Strzok Texts Media Coincidence
While the @JusticeOIG had found #PeterStrzok’s texts already in June 2017, their first disclosure in the media came from @WashingtonPost the day after @GenFlynn entered his guilty plea.

@SidneyPowell1 noted how convenient the timing was.

56. Side Deal
The prosecutors conveyed to Covington an “unofficial understanding” that they were “unlikely” to charge @GenFlynn’s son in light of #Flynn’s agreement to continue to cooperate with the #Mueller probe, one of the lawyers said in an internal email.

57. Avoiding Giglio Disclosure
Another internal Covington email suggests the prosecutors intentionally kept the deal regarding @GenFlynn’s son unofficial to make future prosecutions easier.

58. Questionable Disclosures
After the case was assigned to Judge #EmmetSullivan, he entered an order for the #DOJ to give @GenFlynn all exculpatory information it had, as the judge does in all cases.

The prosecutors, however, weren’t prompt in revealing the information.

59. Business Partner Coincidence
One day before @GenFlynn’s sentencing hearing, his former business partner, Bijan Rafiekian, was charged with a failure to register as a foreign agent.

@SidneyPowell1 called it a “shot across the bow” to “leverage” against #Flynn.

60. Judge Makes False Accusations, Backtracks
Judge #EmmetSullivan questioned the prosecutors about whether they considered charging #Flynn with #Treason.

Sullivan corrected himself later in the hearing, but many media outlets still put his original remarks in headlines.

61. MSNBC Coincidence
While Sullivan’s question about #Treason and his gaffe about the Turkey job seemed to come out of left field, they mirrored @MSNBC talking points from days prior.

62. Judge Fails to Satisfy Plea Rules
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure state that “before entering judgment on a guilty plea, the court must determine that there is a factual basis for the plea.”

As such, Sullivan was required to check that #Flynn’s alleged lies to the @FBI were “material,” meaning relevant enough to potentially affect an #FBI investigation.

But the judge acknowledged during the sentencing hearing that he hadn’t done so.

63. Unacceptable Plea
Not only could Sullivan not have accepted #Flynn’s plea before determining materiality, there’s evidence he was required to refuse it.

Rule 11 requires the court to “determine that the plea is voluntary and did not result from force, threats, or promises.”

64. Lawyers Insisted Flynn ‘Stay on the Path’
Before the sentencing hearing, the Covington lawyers told @enFlynn to “stay on the path” and to refuse if Sullivan offered him to take his plea back, #Flynn said in his court declaration.

65. Unprepared
@GenFlynn said the lawyers only prepared him for a “simple hearing” and not for the extended questioning Sullivan engaged in.

In the end, he affirmed his plea during the hearing.

66. Prosecutors Asked for False Testimony?
@GenFlynn was expected to testify against #Rafiekian in 2019, but when the moment was to come, prosecutors asked him to say that he signed FIG’s #FARA papers knowing there were lies in them.

#Flynn, who had already fired Convington and hired @SidneyPowell1 by that point, refused. He said he only acknowledged in hindsight that the #FARA papers were inaccurate, but didn’t know it at the time.

67. Prosecutors Knew?
@SidneyPowell1 has argued that the prosecutors knew they were asking for a false testimony. She filed with the court a draft of @GenFlynn’s statement of offense, which shows that the words “FLYNN then and there knew” were cut from the final version.

68. Retaliation?
Flynn’s refusal to say what prosecutors wanted angered Van Grack, notes show. Prosecutors tried to label @GenFlynn as a co-conspirator in the #Rafiekian case and put #Flynn’s son on the list of witnesses.

According to @SidneyPowell1, this was retaliation.

69. Rafiekian Case Collapses
Prosecutors in the #Rafiekian case tried to argue that anybody who does something political at the request of a foreign official and fails to disclose it to the #DOJ is an “agent of a foreign government” and can be put in prison for up to 10 years.

The presiding judge, Anthony Trenga, rejected the theory, ruling that an “agent” needs to have a tighter relationship with the foreign government.

Trenga ultimately tossed the case for a lack of evidence.

70. No Exculpatory Evidence?
Starting in August, @SidneyPowell1 started to bombard the prosecutors with demands for #Exculpatory evidence she was convinced the #DOJ possessed. But the prosecutors repeatedly claimed the government already provided all it had and had no more.

The main issue was, @SidneyPowell1 noted, the #DOJ had a very narrow view of what is exculpatory.

As it later turned out, the @FBI was sitting on a number of documents favorable to the defense.

71. Contradicting Notes
When @GenFlynn finally obtained the hand-written notes Strzok and Pientka took during the interview, it turned out they didn’t quite match the final 302.

72. Notes Mixup
It took the prosecutors until November 2019 to find out and tell @GenFlynn that the notes they said belonged to #Strzok were actually #Pientka’s and vice versa.

73. No Date, Name
The notes mixup wasn’t that easy to spot because neither set of notes was signed or dated, even though they should have been, according to @SidneyPowell1.

74. Harsher Sentence
Since his sentencing hearing, @GenFlynn was expected to receive a light sentence. In January 2020, however, the prosecutors indicated that #Flynn should be treated more harshly because he reneged on his promise to cooperate on the #Rafiekian case.

75. Hint at Perjury
In February 2020, prosecutors asked for Sullivan to give them access to @GenFlynn’s communications with Covington.

Any limitation the court puts on how the attorney-client information can be used shouldn’t “preclude the government from prosecuting the…

…defendant for perjury if any information that he provided to counsel were proof of perjury in this proceeding,” they said.

It’s not clear what specifically they were referring to.

76. Thousands More Documents
In April, Covington told @GenFlynn they found thousands more documents related to his case that they failed to give to @SidneyPowell1 due to “an unintentional miscommunication involving the firm’s information technology personnel.”

77. Van Grack Out
On May 7, 2020, Van Grack withdrew from @GenFlynn’s case as well as others. The reason is not clear.

The same day, the #DOJ moved to withdraw the #Flynn case.

78. Judge Delays
A government motion to withdraw a case usually marks the end of the case. The court still needs to accept the motion, but there’s not much it can do, since there’s nobody left to prosecute the case.

Sullivan, however, didn’t accept it.

79. Appointing Amicus
On May 13, 2020, Sullivan appointed former federal Judge John Gleeson as an amicus curiae (friend of court) “to present arguments in opposition to the government’s Motion to Dismiss” as well as to “address” whether the court should make the defense explain…

…why “Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury.”

This was an unusual move. Amici are normally only appointed in civil or higher court cases. @SidneyPowell1 has said Sullivan doesn’t have authority to do so.

80. Another Washington Post Coincidence
Just 2 days earlier, Gleeson co-authored an op-ed in @WashingtonPost where he accused the #DOJ of “impropriety,” “corruption,” and “improper political influence” for dropping the @GenFlynn case.

81. More Delays
On May 19, 2020, Sullivan issued a scheduling order that set an oral argument for July 16, when third parties invited by the judge would get a chance to voice their opinions. As such, the judge set to prolong the case for about 2 more months and possibly beyond.

82. Order for Response
In a rare move, the appeals court ordered Sullivan to respond to @GenFlynn's petition within 10 days. Ordering a response is “very rare,” Reeves commented.

83. Sullivan Lawyers Up
In another unusual turn of events, Judge Sullivan hired highly-connected DC attorney Beth Wilkinson to respond to the appeals court on his behalf.

Wilkinson has in the past represented major corporations such as Pfizer, Microsoft, and Phillip Morris…

…as well as @HillaryClinton aides during @FBI’s investigation of #Clinton’s use of a private email server. She also assisted then-Supreme Court nominee #BrettKavanaugh in preparing his 2018 defense against a sexual assault allegation.

84. DOJ Brings Big Guns
In another unusual move, the #DOJ’s Solicitor General and 5 of his deputies responded to the appeals court in support of @GenFlynn’s petition.

His personal involvement in an appeals court petition “is highly unusual and rare,” Reeves said.

85. Short Notice
On June 2, the appeals court set a hearing in the case on June 12, giving unusually short notice, Reeves noted.

“For non-lawyers, a ten day notice for oral argument may seem like a long time, but it isn’t. It’s an increidibly [sic] short amount of time.”

/END/