Kyle Cheney Profile picture
Sep 25, 2020 11 tweets 4 min read Read on X
In the last 36 hours, DOJ has:

-Declassified a doc GOP lawmakers sought about the Steele Dossier
-Provided internal FBI messages to Flynn legal team
-Released an interview with one of the Flynn case agents
-Released questionable evidence of ballot irregularities in Pa.
The case agent, William Barnett, is a case-study in contradiction. He says he worried that there was groupthink among Mueller team — yet they often included him (and his converse opinions) in Flynn-related matters and processes.

courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Barnett also said he raised internal questions about the Flynn case but viewed the other three prongs of Crossfire Hurricane as legit and did believe that Flynn lied in his FBI interview — to protect his job rather than cover up something Russia-related. courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Barnett also undercut an earlier filing from the Flynn team that suggests FBI officials bought liability insurance because they feared fallout from the Flynn matter.

Barnett says discussions of insurance were likely unrelated to Flynn bc they predate the case becoming public.
And that earlier Flynn team filing also included an obvious error:
Overall though, there's a concerted effort to get more material into the public record — some of which would have reasonably been expected to be part of the Durham investigation yet now appears to packaged for public release by DOJ without any accompanying indictments.
BARNETT also pushed for an interview with Flynn in late 2016, calling it an "easy lay-up" that Flynn wouldn't view as suspicious because he was part of an incoming administration. Barnett said he viewed this as a formality toward closing the case.
NEW: An FBI agent who formerly worked with Mueller’s team told DOJ last week he believed Flynn lied to the FBI to save his job, not cover up a Russia operation. But the interview is a series of contradictions.

w/ @joshgerstein

politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
It’s part of a slew of new docs dumped by DOJ to Flynn’s team as they prepare to argue next week for the dismissal of the case against him. And it comes as DOJ has dumped info in a series of other sensitive matters into the public domain. politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
BARNETT's testimony also cut against what has been billed as a bombshell revelation in docs released by Flynn's team just hours earlier: That FBI agents bought liability insurance because they were worried about fallout from Crossfire Hurricane.

politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
DOJ asked Barnett about internal FBI messages referencing a rush to buy insurance. Barnett said he didn't believe that was related to Flynn because it didn't work with the timeline of events.

He said he always urges colleagues to have liability insurance. politico.com/news/2020/09/2…

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More from @kyledcheney

Dec 31, 2025
BREAKING: The House Judiciary Committee has released Jack Smith's 255-page deposition transcript: judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subs…
Smith was barred from discussing any nonpublic parts of his classified documents probe by Judge Cannon's order prohibiting DOJ from divulging any nonpublic info about it. Image
DOJ opted against having a lawyer present for Smith's deposition. Image
Read 13 tweets
Dec 15, 2025
In a late night filing, DOJ says Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be returned to detention because he is subject to laws governing detention during deportation proceedings — and “may seek a bond hearing” before an immigration judge. However … storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
The administration has been arguing in thousands of cases that people in Abrego’s position are not entitled to bond hearings at all — and rather are subject to mandatory detention. Hundreds of judges across the country have ruled that position illegal politico.com/news/2025/11/2…
And DOJ knows, but doesn’t mention here, that the immigration courts are all bound by a recent Board of Immigration Appeals ruling — breaking with decades of precedent — finding that bond hearings are not available to virtually anyone facing deportation proceedings. politico.com/news/2025/09/0…
Read 6 tweets
Dec 4, 2025
HAPPENING NOW: Taylor Taranto, a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant who was convicted for bringing weapons to Obama’s neighborhood, has returned to DC and has been roaming Rep. Jamie Raskin’s neighborhood — alarming police.

Today, DOJ asked a judge to immediately re-jail him.
Taranto lives in WA state but drove across the country in recent weeks. He has filmed ominous videos from the Pentagon parking lot and was wandering Raskin’s Takoma Park area at 2am. DOJ says it’s nearly identical conduct to what he was charged for in 2023.
Judge Nichols, who convicted Taranto in a bench trial earlier this year, is weighing whether to detain him immediately for violating his supervised release conditions.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 2, 2025
HAPPENING NOW: Rahmullah Lakanwal makes his initial appearance in DC Superior Court, from a hospital bed, on charges for last week's National Guard shooting.
He's being apprised, through an interpreter, of the murder charge against him as well as charges of possessing of a firearm during commission of a violent offense, assault w intent to kill while armed.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to keep Lakanwal detained during pretrial proceedings. Lakanwal, who does appear to be in pain, says he can't open his eyes. His attorney is advising him not to speak.
Read 12 tweets
Nov 28, 2025
NEW: ICE’s policy of mass detaining immigrants w pending deportation proceedings has led to an avalanche of rejections in court.

More than 220 judges — including 23 Trump appointees — have called it an illegal distortion of long-settled law. politico.com/news/2025/11/2…Image
Those judges have ruled against the administration more than 700 times since ICE implemented its draconian new policy on July 8.

Only 8 judges have side with ICE’s position. politico.com/news/2025/11/2…Image
The cases have surged as ICE reclassified millions who have resided in the United States for years as “arriving aliens” or “applicants for admission” — making them subject to mandatory detention typically meant for those who just crossed the border. politico.com/news/2025/11/2…Image
Image
Read 7 tweets
Nov 24, 2025
BREAKING: Comey case dismissed without prejudice. Halligan invalidly appointed, judge rules. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
This applies to the Letitia James indictment as well. Both cases are now dismissed without prejudice. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
NEWS: The criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James are gone. A federal judge ruled that the appointment of Lindsey Halligan as the lead prosecutor was illegal.

DOJ could try again, but there are other headwinds.

w/ @joshgerstein

politico.com/news/2025/11/2…Image
Read 5 tweets

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