Article

May 1, 2020

Jim Trusty: Michael Flynn prosecution offers these important lessons on FBI, fairness and the rule of law

Whatever your thoughts are about Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the slow unraveling of his case holds some deeper lessons than simply “he never should have been charged.”

Notes belatedly turned over to Flynn’s aggressive attorney include some telling nuggets of how Jim Comey’s FBI conducted itself. “What is our goal,” the notes read, “Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired.”

How about an unstated goal of simply investigating and going where the evidence leads? How about a goal that does not reflect a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose outcome on prosecution?

Add in an unannounced ambush interview and even FBI shenanigans (at Flynn’s potential expense) in trying to engage him during a defensive briefing, and it becomes clear the general, innocent or not, never had a chance of avoiding prosecution under Comey’s watchful eye.