The Federal Bureau of Investigations withheld “stunning” exculpatory evidence in the case of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn at the behest of FBI Director Christopher Wray, the Daily Caller reported Friday.
The Federalist meanwhile reported that FBI general counsel Dana Boente was behind the effort to block the release of the Brady Material.
According to the FBI official who spoke to The Federalist, FBI general counsel Dana Boente led the charge internally against DOJ’s disclosure of the new materials. Boente, who briefly served as acting Attorney General after Trump became president, personally signed off on one of the federal spy warrants against former Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page. The new documents, which were filed under a protective order by DOJ on Friday, will reflect poorly on the FBI, the official told The Federalist. It is not clear when, or even if, those documents will be unsealed and made available to the public for review.
A source with “direct knowledge of the situation” told the Daily Caller that Boente was acting in coordination with the Trump-appointed Wray.
Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, announced on Twitter Friday that she filed the new court documents containing exculpatory evidence.
#BREAKING The government just provided the #Flynn defense with remarkable new & long withheld BRADY evidence. Letter below just filed. Stay tuned.@realDonaldTrump @Techno_Fog @seanmdav @seanhannity @ProfMJCleveland @BarbaraRedgate @JosephJFlynn1
@lofly727
@GoJackFlynn pic.twitter.com/06dS1ybv6L— Sidney Powell 🇺🇸 🗽⚖️🚜🇺🇸 Attorney & Author (@SidneyPowell1) April 24, 2020
“This afternoon, the government produced to Mr. Flynn stunning Brady evidence that proves Mr. Flynn’s allegations of having been deliberately set up and framed by corrupt agents at the top of the FBI,” Powell wrote in a Supplement to Flynn’s Motion to Dismiss. “The government has deliberately suppressed this evidence from the inception of this prosecution—knowing there was no crime by Mr. Flynn.”
“Since August 2016 at the latest, partisan FBI and DOJ leaders conspired to destroy Mr. Flynn,” she continued. “These documents show in their own handwriting and emails that they intended either to create an offense they could prosecute or at least get him fired.”
Powell said said her team also found more evidence of misconduct by prosecuting attorney Brandon Van Grack.
The government’s misconduct in this case is beyond shocking and reprehensible, Powell said in the filing. “It mandates dismissal.
She went on to say that the government has indicated additional evidence proving that crimes were committed by FBI officials and prosecutors will be coming.
Justice Department code clearly dictates that “government disclosure of material exculpatory and impeachment evidence is part of the constitutional guarantee to a fair trial,” and the FBI does not reserve the right to withhold exculpatory evidence.
Flynn replaced his legal team last summer after pleading guilty to charges raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Furthermore, a judge delayed his sentencing, originally scheduled for late February, “until further notice of the court.”
The New York Times meanwhile reported Friday that U.S. attorney John Durham is looking into the deep state leak to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius about Flynn late 2016 phone call with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak.
Durham was tapped by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the circumstances surrounding the surveillance of President Trump’s campaign, transition, and early administration.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) last December took aim at Wray, saying he smeared House Republicans over their FISA Abuse memo in early 2018.
The FBI at the time issued what Nunes called an “extraordinary public statement” condemning Republicans for trying to release their classified memo alleging surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice. Democrats weaponized the Intelligence Community’s opposition to the Nunes memo against Republicans for the rest of the 2018 midterm election year.
The Inspector General’s report in December of 2019 vindicated the claims made in the FISA abuse memo.
Nunes said that Wray needed to explain why he sent that letter, saying it was “very harmful to me as someone who has to go before the voters.”
“If Wray had not weighed in, if Democrats had told the truth, if the media would have told the truth, it’s very possible that we would have not lost the House of Representatives,” he told The Washington Examiner’s Byron York. “Major consequences here. They poisoned the minds of millions of Americans.”
Update:
After publication, FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs delivered the following statement to Daily Caller
“The assertion that Director Wray pushed to withhold exculpatory evidence in the Michael Flynn case is absolutely false.”