“Former Vice President Joe Biden mentioned the “Logan Act” during an early January 2017 Oval Office discussion about the investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, newly released notes suggest.
It’s not fully clear what Biden said about the 1799 law, but Flynn’s legal team said “it appears” he “personally raised the idea” during a meeting between former President Barack Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, national security adviser Susan Rice, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration. Biden is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and leading in national polling.
New insight into the conversation is given by chicken-scratch notes taken by former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, who later oversaw the bureau’s interviews with Flynn, then Trump’s incoming national security adviser, as part of the counterintelligence investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The notes were disclosed in a court filing Wednesday to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia around the same time a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that the judge presiding over the case against Flynn grant the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him. U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen of Missouri, who was picked by Attorney General William Barr to review the government’s case against Flynn, “obtained and analyzed” the document. Biden’s comment about the Logan Act are the only words that appear in quote marks.
The officials were discussing phone calls Flynn had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about a United Nations resolution on Israel and sanctions during the presidential transition period. At one point, Strzok wrote that Comey said the calls “appear legit.” Obama emphasized that “the right people” should look into Flynn.” (Washington Examiner, 6/24/2020) (Archive)