The Saga of Michael Flynn

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2020

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Federal prosecutors are asking a court to throw out their own criminal case against the former national security adviser Michael Flynn. We look at what led to that decision. Guest: Mark Mazzetti, a Washington investigative correspondent for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: Attorney General William Barr’s extraordinary decision to drop the criminal case against Mr. Flynn shocked legal experts, won President Trump’s praise and prompted a career prosecutor to quit the caseThe federal judge overseeing the case has appointed a hard-charging former prosecutor and judge to oppose the Justice Department’s efforts. The dropped charges against Mr. Flynn granted him another turnabout in a life filled with them.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From The New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro. This is The Daily.
0:10.6	Today, federal prosecutors are asking a court to throw out their own criminal case against
0:19.2	former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, Mark Mazzetti, on what led to that decision.
0:31.9	It's Thursday, May 14th.
0:38.9	Mark, remind us where the Michael Flynn story starts.
0:42.6	Michael Flynn was a three-star army general who had a quite distinguished career. They came
0:51.1	ahead of the Defense Intelligence Agency under the Obama administration. And then he gradually
0:57.0	sort of moves into the Trump orbit in 2016 when Trump was running for president.
1:04.5	During the Republican Convention, we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above
1:12.5	the law. He famously leaves a chance. Get that's right, locker up.
1:21.1	Lock her up, meaning to Hillary Clinton.
1:23.7	Right. If I did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today.
1:32.4	And after Trump is elected, he announces that he's going to make Flynn his national security advisor.
1:37.7	So it's during this time when there's a series of events that get Michael Flynn into trouble.
1:49.7	It's shortly after Christmas in 2016 when the Obama administration announces a number of
1:54.7	sanctions against Russia for its efforts to sabotage the 2016 campaign. It was soon after that.
2:01.6	The Washington Post reports that Trump's incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn,
2:06.8	repeatedly called the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
2:09.4	That the Washington Post reported that Flynn had been on a number of phone calls with the
2:13.4	Russian ambassador on the exact same day, on the same day the Obama sanctions were announced.
2:19.6	Which raised questions about whether the incoming Trump administration was trying to
2:24.2	meddle with the Obama administration's foreign policy. I talked to General Flynn about that
	...

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