Documents later proved
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates defended a sensitive Justice Department investigation into onetime Trump aide Michael Flynn on Wednesday, telling lawmakers Flynn was essentially “neutering” American sanctions and undercutting the Obama administration by “making nice” with a foreign adversary after Russia’s unprecedented attack on the 2016 election.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Yates said Flynn’s lies to the FBI were “absolutely material to a legitimate investigation” — contradicting the rationale the Justice Department has now offered in seeking to dismiss the case.
Yates, who was a prosecutor for nearly 30 years, said the effort to drop a prosecution against a defendant who twice pleaded guilty was “highly irregular.”
It’s so bizarre having a Justice Department that is trying to shield Flynn and Trump and Putin as opposed to…you know…not doing that.
Flynn told Vice President Pence and then FBI investigators he hadn’t asked Kislyak to press his government not to escalate its retaliation against punitive steps the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama was taking. Actually, documents later proved, Flynn had.
But hey let’s beat up on Obama and Yates.
Oh and by the way…
Democrats on the panel worried about ongoing efforts by Russia and other countries to tamper with the 2020 election, calling Republicans’ backward-looking Senate probe a distraction.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said lawmakers had received “absolutely chilling” classified briefings about current threats, ones he says they’re forbidden to discuss, with just three months to go until election day.
No biggy. It is what it is.
Sort of relative to this is the news that Stephen Akard, the acting Inspector General of the State Dept. who took over the role less than 3 months ago after Trump fired his predecessor, Steve Linick, has resigned.
Coincientally, I’m sure…..
His reasons fot resigning have not been stated although when asked about it at a press conference Pompeo did offer this most informative nugget: “He left to go back home. This happens. I don’t have anything more to add to that.”
Well, he could hardly say “He’s gone because I want to put my own man in there to make sure the negotiations over the report into my corrupt activities go my way, of course.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/politics/akard-resigns-state-oig/index.html