FBI chief orders internal review into probe of Trump ex-aide Michael Flynn

Washington, May 23

Two weeks after the Justice Department sought to drop fees towards US President Donald Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser Michael Flynn, the FBI’s director ordered an inner overview on Friday of the bureau’s investigation that led to Flynn’s prosecution.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant normal who additionally suggested Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign, pleaded responsible in 2017 to mendacity to the FBI about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, within the weeks earlier than Trump took workplace.

The probe ordered by FBI Director Christopher Wray will “determine whether any current employees engaged in misconduct” within the investigation of Flynn and “evaluate any FBI policies, procedures or controls” that have to be modified, the company stated in an announcement.

The fees arose from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference within the 2016 marketing campaign to spice up Trump’s candidacy. Trump and his allies have denounced the FBI’s investigation of contacts between his marketing campaign and Russians. Wray beforehand has stated he doesn’t imagine the FBI unfairly focused Trump’s marketing campaign.

The Justice Department on May 7 requested US District Judge Emmet Sullivan to drop the fees towards Flynn following public stress from Trump and his political allies. Flynn had sought to withdraw his responsible plea and accused the FBI of tricking him. Sullivan has scheduled a July 16 listening to on the matter.

Democrats and a few former federal prosecutors have accused Attorney General William Barr of politicizing the US prison justice system to profit Trump associates in prison instances.

Trump, who has known as the FBI “badly broken,” appointed Wray after firing James Comey as FBI director in 2017. The president berated Wray in December after a Justice Department inner watchdog report discovered no proof of political bias when the FBI started investigating contacts between Trump’s marketing campaign and Russia. Reuters