House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) claimed the Department of Justice’s decision to drop criminal charges against retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn on Thursday does not exonerate the former Trump national security advisor, but rather incriminates Attorney General William Barr.
“Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his illicit Russian contacts. His lies do not now become truths,” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “This dismissal does not exonerate him. But it does incriminate Bill Barr.”
“In the worst politicization of the Justice Department in its history,” the California Democrat added.
Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department moved to drop its case against Flynn for charges of making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak ahead of President Trump taking office. In 2017, the longtime military man pleaded guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and agreed to cooperate with the DOJ, but eventually withdrew his plea, citing prosecuting breaking their agreement to not recommend prison time.
“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jeffrey Jensen, the U.S. attorney that Barr recruited to review Flynn’s case, said in a statement. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”
Speaking to CBS News, Barr defended the decision to drop the charges against Flynn, saying he was “doing the law’s bidding’
“A crime cannot be established here. They did not have a basis for a counterintelligence investigation against Flynn at that stage,” Barr said in reference to the FBI.
“People sometimes plead to things that turn out not to be crimes,” the chief law enforcement official added.