Shoe on other foot in Mueller investigation over documents

The late Chubby Checker would be proud to see that U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has put a real twist in the special counsel investigation ordering Robert Mueller to hand over all secret documents related to former Army Lt. General and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. [For you young folks, Chubby Checker sang "Let's Twist Again" many years ago--thus my corny joke.]

It was recently claimed by Flynn's lawyers that the FBI urged [aka: 'conned'] Flynn to not bring a lawyer with him to an interview with their agents at the White House in January 2017. It was presented more as a casual conversation in Flynn's mind.

He has since pleaded guilty to one count of lying to prosecutors and his sentencing is to be on Tuesday.

Judge Sullivan ordered Mueller to turn over all documents and "memoranda" related to Flynn's questioning by 3 p.m. [or 1500 hrs]  Friday.

Sullivan is the same judge who overturned a 2008 Sen. Ted Stevens conviction after government misconduct was revealed.

Former disgraced FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe arranged the White House interview with Flynn, and suggested he not have a lawyer present. "I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between [Flynn] and the agents only," McCabe wrote, according to newly filed court documents.

"I further stated that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the Department of Justice. [Flynn] stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants."

In other words, McCabe tried to make the interview seem casual.

FBI officials also decided not to warn Flynn that there he could face perjury charges if he made false statements during what appeared to be an informal interview, and while this might not be illegal, it sucks to high heaven.

In his ruling, Judge Sullivan also ordered Flynn's team "to turn over the documents backing up its assertions. The judge could determine why the FBI apparently took a significantly more aggressive tack in handling the Flynn interview than it did during other similar matters, including the agency's sit-downs with Hillary Clinton and ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos," Fox News reported.

Mueller's team may have had guilty consciences. They recommended no jail time for making false statements to the FBI because he provided "substantial assistance" to the Mueller investigation. The filing by attorney Brandon L. Van Grack, who works for Mueller's team states:

The defendant deserves credit for accepting responsibility in a timely fashion and substantially assisting the government. As described in the Addendum, shortly after the SCO reached out to the defendant to seek his cooperation, the defendant accepted responsibility for his unlawful conduct and began cooperating with the government. 

"Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range — including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration — is appropriate and warranted." 

The filing says that Flynn sat for 19 interviews with the special counsel and the Department of Justice during the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

shoes on the other foot

It turns out nothing, so far, has been found to implicate the president in the search of a crime. Maybe they will eventually get him on jaywalking.

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