An agent on Mueller’s team said the probe into Flynn had a “get Trump” attitude. He didn’t want to pursue collusion either because it was “not there.” It was a “dead end.” There was NO PREDICATE to investigate General Flynn and it was only a means to “get Trump.”
FBI agent William J. Barnett revealed all this during an interview on Sept. 17 at the Justice Department, before Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen. Jensen is reviewing the Flynn case such as it is.
The Flynn probe was called “Crossfire Razor,” the original name for “Crossfire Hurricane.”
“Barnett thought the case theory was ‘supposition on supposition,’” the 302 stated, and added that the “predication” of the Flynn investigation was “not great,” and that it “was not clear” what the “persons opening the case wanted to ‘look for or at.’”
After six weeks — still nothing. He continued to be “unsure of the basis of the investigation concerning Russia and the Trump campaign working together, without a specific criminal allegation.”
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He wanted to know what the “end game” was in the Flynn probe. He wanted the case closed and was “cautioned against” an interview of Flynn. They didn’t want to alert then-NSA Flynn.
IT CAME FROM THE MOST SENIOR LEVELS
He ran the request up the chain and it was denied. The Flynn probe was “top-down” he said. The most senior officials were “directing,” it, namely then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
Barnett, at the time, said that he believed the investigation was “problematic and could result in an inspector general investigation.”
NO TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION
He did not see evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, according to the 302. “Barnett was willing to follow any instructions being given by the deputy director as long as it was not a violation of the law.”
Barnett saw the Flynn probe as a “check the box” exercise before closing. They were witch-hunting. It was not “leading or headed toward prosecution.”
Barnett thought there were reasons to investigate the other three subjects but not Flynn.
In early 2017, he briefed Jeanne Rhee.
“Barnett said he briefly went over the investigation, including the assessment that there was no evidence of a crime, and then discussed [REDACTED], which he thought was the more significant investigation,” the 302 stated.
Barnett told investigators that he thought “Rhee was obsessed with Flynn and Russia and she had an agenda.”
The next day, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who said “he really wanted Barnett to work with the special counsel’s office.”
HE WANTED TO DROP COLLUSION
According to the 302, Barnett told Strzok that he “did not wish to pursue the collusion investigation as it was ‘not there,'” In the end, Barnett decided to work with Mueller’s team, “hoping his perspective would keep them from ‘group think.’”
He also KEPT SILENT ALL THIS TIME. All of the agents involved, who purchased insurance because they knew there was no reason for this, KEPT SILENT.
Barnett added that he believed the appointment of Mueller in May 2017 “changed everything,” and described the situation pertaining to the special counsel’s office as “‘upside down’ with attorneys drafting search warrants and getting agents to simply act as affiants,” the 302 stated.
“Barnett thought there was a ‘get Trump’ attitude by some at the SCO,” the 302 continued.
One example Barnett shared was comments made by the president, saying investigators “needed to ‘get to the bottom’ of a matter. One of the SCO attorneys said Trump wanted to ‘cover it up.’”
Barnett “corrected it saying, ‘no, he said get to the bottom of it.’”
Barnett also said that “another example,” was when the president fired FBI Director James Comey, which he said was interpreted as “obstruction when it could just as easily have been done because Trump did not like Comey and wanted him replaced.”
But Barnett went on to tell investigators that it seemed that the attorneys on Mueller’s team “wanted to be part of something ‘big,’ a successful prosecution.”
“There was a lack of letting the evidence lead the investigation and more the attitude of ‘the evidence is there we just have to find it,’” Barnett’s 302 stated.
By May 2017, after several interviews with Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, it was clear there was “nothing left to pursue.”
They got Papadopoulos for lying out of fear.
THEN THEY PURSUED KT FOR SUPPOSITIONS
Then they pursued KT McFarland, described as “the key to everything.”
“Barnett said it seems there was always someone at SCO who claimed to have a lead on information that would prove collusion, only to have the information be a dead end,” the 302 stated.
When Flynn pleaded guilty, Barnett thought he did it to save his job.
“Barnett believed Flynn lied in his interview to save his job, as that was the most plausible explanation and there was no evidence to contradict it,” the 302 stated. “Barnett believed the prosecution of Flynn by Mueller’s office was used as a means to ‘get Trump.'”
READ IT YOURSELF
Mueller team member Barrett on September 17 in Flynn and Trump collusion probes by Johannah Winter on Scribd
INTERESTING CLIPS
OBAMA DID IT: @GenFlynn filing by @SidneyPowell1 contains smoking gun texts, hidden illegally for years, showing Obama FBI knowingly targeted innocent man–“stunning government misconduct that mandates the immediate dismissal of this wrongful prosecution.” https://t.co/2VgkNGG5O6 https://t.co/X2vCGLVAeH
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) September 24, 2020
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