President Donald J. Trump speaks with reporters Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, prior to boarding Air Force One for his trip to Michigan. (Official White House photo by Tia Dufour)
A member of Robert Mueller's team believed the special counsel's prosecution of Michael Flynn was an effort to "get Trump" and that the Trump-Russia collussion probe was a "dead end."
FBI agent William J. Barnett made the comments in a Sept. 17 interview at the Justice Department by Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen.
Jensen was asked by Attorney General William Barr to review the case against Flynn. An appeals court has returned the case to a trial court judge who now must decide if he will grant a DOJ motion to dismiss charges against Flynn.
The judge, Emmet Sullivan, has refused to dismiss the motion, which was filed after the DOJ determined the interview of Flynn in which he allegedly lied to investigators had no legal foundation. Sullivan even has engaged outside counsel to argue against the motion.
Fox News reported it reviewed the FBI 302 documenting Barnett's interview, which wa filed by the government Friday in the Flynn case.
"Barnett, during his interview, detailed his work at the FBI, and his assignment to the bureau's original cases against Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Barnett said the Flynn investigation was assigned the code name 'Crossfire Razor,' which was part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation — the bureau’s code name for the original Trump-Russia probe," Fox reported.
But he said he considered the Trump-Russia review "opaque" and "with little detail concerning specific evidence of criminal events," Fox said.
The government document revealed Barnett thought the case theory was "supposition on supposition."
After six weeks of work, Barnett said he still was "unsure" why the investigation was going on.
He said he wanted to interview Flynn but was cautioned against it and was denied permission.
Barnett said he thought the Flynn investigation was "problematic and could result in an inspector general investigation."
The official summary of his interview said: "Barnett still did not see any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Barnett was willing to follow any instructions being given by the deputy director as long as it was not a violation of the law."
In 2017 he gave a briefing on the Flynn case to lawyers from Mueller's office.
"Barnett said he briefly went over the investigation, including the assessment that there was no evidence of a crime, and then discussed [REDACTED], which he thought was the more significant investigation," the government document said.
FBI lead investigator Peter Strzok told Barnett he wanted him to work with the special counsel, but Barnett told Strzok the investigation was "not there."
However, he did agree to help the Mueller team.
"Barnett added that he believed the appointment of Mueller in May 2017 'changed everything,' and described the situation pertaining to the special counsel's office as ''upside down' with attorneys drafting search warrants and getting agents to simply act as affiants,' the 302 stated.
"Barnett thought there was a 'get Trump' attitude by some at the SCO," the document said.
For example, when the president commented that investigators should "get to the bottom" of the issue, a special counsel lawyers claimed Trump wanted to "cover it up."
Barnett also said it seemed Mueller's team "wanted to part of something 'big,' a successful prosecution."
Barnett said the attitude of investigators was that the evidence was there, they "just have to find it."
"Barnett said it seems there was always someone at SCO who claimed to have a lead on information that would prove collusion, only to have the information be a dead end," the 302 said.
"Barnett believed the prosecution of Flynn by Mueller's office was used as a means to 'get Trump.'"
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