Friday is the deadline for the FBI and Justice Department to give the Senate Judiciary Committee key documents in the Michael Flynn case.
In a May 11 letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Grassley noted that more than a year ago, on Feb. 15, 2017, the Judiciary Committee requested a copy of the transcript of a Dec. 2016 phone call between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
"Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn 'saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying,'" Grassley wrote.
On Dec. 1, 2017, with special counsel Robert Mueller in charge of the case, Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI. Now, with Flynn awaiting sentencing, Grassley wants the information he asked for more than a year ago.
Does the request for a 60-day extension, rather than another 90-day extension, mean the Flynn case is nearing conclusion? The people who know are refusing to talk.
At the end of his letter, Grassley asked the FBI to "Make Special Agent Joe Pientka available for a transcribed interview with committee staff." Pientka is thought to be one of the two agents who interviewed Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017, and who Comey said did not believe Flynn was lying.
Pientka's account of the Flynn interview would be critical to understanding the case - and in terms of public credibility, Pientka would not have the baggage of Strzok, whose text exchanges with fellow FBI agent Lisa Page are under investigation both inside the Justice Department and on Capitol Hill.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fbi-appears-ready-to-miss-another-deadline-in-trump-russia-probe
In a May 11 letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Grassley noted that more than a year ago, on Feb. 15, 2017, the Judiciary Committee requested a copy of the transcript of a Dec. 2016 phone call between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
"Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn 'saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying,'" Grassley wrote.
On Dec. 1, 2017, with special counsel Robert Mueller in charge of the case, Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI. Now, with Flynn awaiting sentencing, Grassley wants the information he asked for more than a year ago.
Does the request for a 60-day extension, rather than another 90-day extension, mean the Flynn case is nearing conclusion? The people who know are refusing to talk.
At the end of his letter, Grassley asked the FBI to "Make Special Agent Joe Pientka available for a transcribed interview with committee staff." Pientka is thought to be one of the two agents who interviewed Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017, and who Comey said did not believe Flynn was lying.
Pientka's account of the Flynn interview would be critical to understanding the case - and in terms of public credibility, Pientka would not have the baggage of Strzok, whose text exchanges with fellow FBI agent Lisa Page are under investigation both inside the Justice Department and on Capitol Hill.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fbi-appears-ready-to-miss-another-deadline-in-trump-russia-probe
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