Sen. Lee: Flynn case a travesty that calls out for FBI reform
Republican Sen. Mike Lee reacts to the latest in the Michael Flynn case and the Senate's plan to take up a FISA reform bill.
Sen. Mike Lee said Monday on "Fox & Friends" that the Senate must reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process in a substantial way after the way the FBI mishandled the Michael Flynn investigation.
"There's no question that this was a travesty at the FBI. And there is no question that this calls out for reform within the FBI," said Lee, R-Utah, explaining that he has introduced an amendment with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that "would substantially reform FISA and make things like this less possible in the future."
Lee said he hopes the Senate takes up the amendment this week, believing it would pass "overwhelmingly." He said the amendment would require the FISA court to appoint a third party overseer "with a security clearance" who would review documents submitted by investigators before a surveillance warrant is approved.
NBC ADMITS MISTAKE WITH BARR FOOTAGE
The comments came after President Trump on Sunday intensified his criticism of former President Obama by tying him to the Flynn investigation and blasting his predecessor's recent criticism aimed at his administration's coronavirus response.
Last week, Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department dismissed the case against Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, who was seen as the key prosecution witness from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign. Trump, along with other Republicans, seized on the decision and framed it as an example of a Democrat-manufactured plot to remove him from office.
Trump retweeted Eli Lake, a columnist at Bloomberg, who said he has been reviewing the interview transcripts that were recently released in the collusion investigation. Lake wrote, “It’s now clear why every Republican on [Rep. Adam Schiff’s] committee in 2019 called for his resignation. He knew the closed-door witnesses didn’t support his innuendo and fakery on Russia collusion.”
On Sunday in an interview with Fox News, Flynn's lead attorney accused top officials of orchestrating a plot to frame her client, insisting that former President Obama himself was in on it.
"These agents specifically schemed and planned with each other how to not tip him off, that he was even the person being investigated," attorney Sidney Powell told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," pointing to evidence that FBI agents took a casual approach with Flynn, not telling him they were investigating him and not warning him that it would be a federal crime to lie during their conversation.
"So they kept him relaxed and unguarded deliberately as part of their effort to set him up and frame him," Powell said.
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.