Sally Yates speaks by videoconference during a hearing in Washington, DC, on August 5.
Photographer: Erin Schaff / The New York Times / Bloomberg
Photographer: Erin Schaff / The New York Times / Bloomberg
A key player in the case against former National Security adviser Michael Flynn testified that President Barack Obama and his deputies focused exclusively on national security, not anti-Trump policy, when discussing what to do about Flynn’s negotiations with the Russian ambassador.
“Something like that would have set off alarms for me,” Sally Yates, who was second in command from the Justice Department at the time of the conversation, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. “There was no such thing. The president was fully focused on the national security implications of sharing confidential intelligence information with General Flynn during the transition process that was obviously already underway at the White House. ”
President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress say a meeting at the White House on January 5, 2017 was part of a plot by the Obama administration and dishonest FBI forces to spy on his campaign and then conduct a “hunt.” to witches “to allegations of collaboration campaign interference by Russia. Yates attended the meeting.
Under insistent questions and frequent interruptions by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Republican chairman of the Judiciary panel, Yates said that then FBI director James Comey may have become “dishonest”, in Graham’s words, acting without consultation. her to schedule an FBI interview with Flynn about his conversations with Sergei Kislyak, who was the Russian ambassador.
“You could use that term,” said Yates, who briefly served as an interim attorney general. She also agreed with Graham’s conviction of improprieties in the FBI’s search for court approval for surveillance by Carter Page, a Trump campaign advisor.
Questioned by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee’s top Democrat, Yates said Flynn was potentially compromised because the Russians knew he lied when he denied that he had discussed American sanctions with Kislyak.
“We had General Flynn involved in discussions with the Russian ambassador who were essentially neutralizing American sanctions, and this is a very curious thing to do, especially when the Russians were acting on behalf of President Trump,” said Yates. “And then he’s covering up, he’s lying about it.”
Flynn was an important foreign policy adviser during the Trump campaign and became his first national security adviser in the White House. Trump said he fired Flynn because he cheated on Vice President Mike Pence by denying that he had discussed sanctions with Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about these conversations.
Under the direction of Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department decided to close the case against Flynn, claiming that his statements were not “relevant” to the investigation of Russian interference in the election. Flynn’s case remains subject to intense legal disputes, with a U.S. appeals court set to reconsider a decision that would force a judge to close the criminal case.
Wednesday’s audience had a high-profile viewer on Trump, who tweeted shortly after the start that Yates has “zero credibility”.