Are Republicans right to demand an investigation into FBI abuses?
Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses why he thinks General Michael Flynn should be exonerated
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Tuesday that Republicans are "absolutely" right to demand an investigation of FBI agents' conduct following the release of bombshell notes from interviews with former national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn.
In an appearance on "Fox & Friends," Napolitano said that the Department of Justice should ask federal judge Emmet Sullivan to vacate the general's guilty plea in the wake of the document release.
REPUBLICANS DEMAND INTERVIEWS WITH FBI'S PRIESTAP, PIENTKA AFTER BOMBSHELL MICHAEL FLYNN REVELATIONS
"And, all these materials should be made available either to the Senate Judiciary Committee or to whatever members of Congress are able to get them," Napolitano urged.
The documents in question reveal conversations on whether the FBI's “goal” was “to get [Flynn] to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired.” The unsealed notes further suggest that agents planned in the alternative to get Flynn “to admit to breaking the Logan Act."
"Any criminal investigation grounded in Logan Act questions is an obvious political pretext to attack the Trump Administration," GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday, in a letter seeking in-person interviews and key documents.
The lawmakers are also specifically seeking to question a mysterious FBI agent, Joe Pientka, who participated in the January 2017 White House interview that led to Flynn's prosecution.
"The name that is not familiar to us as of today, but soon will be – Joe Pientka – was one of the FBI agents who visited General Flynn in his West Wing office January 24th, 2017..." Napolitano explained. "And, who concluded at the end of his interview with General Flynn...that General Flynn had been truthful and that the investigation of General Flynn should be terminated at that point."
"At that point, it gets very political," he remarked, adding that federal law prohibits the FBI from revealing documents in a an active criminal case.
"So, as I suggested last week, the best thing to happen for Justice and for General Flynn is for him to be exonerated: meaning the Justice Department should ask Judge Sullivan...to vacate the general's guilty plea and dismiss the indictment."
Napolitano told the "Friends" hosts that a large part of the issue surrounding Flynn's case is the culture at the FBI.
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"I understand the drumbeat against Director Wray. And, I share many of the views of those calling for his resignation," he admitted. "But, the problem is the culture in the FBI. The idea that FBI agents have that they can get away with so much. They have never had to have their records open to the public scrutiny, the likes of which Jim Jordan and hopefully Senator Graham will eventually put them to."
"What happens to Wray is really up to the president," Napolitano concluded.
Fox News' Gregg Re, Brooke Signman, David Spunt, Wilson Miller, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.