“As a member of Team Mueller, Van Grack was involved in improperly obtaining Trump Transition Team emails/comms from GSA – including privileged materials.
He hid the extent of the intrusion from Trump Transition Team lawyers.
Van Grack confirmed that the Special Counsel’s Office had “failed to use an ‘ethical wall’ or ‘taint team’ and instead simply reviewed the privileged communications contained in the [Transition Team] materials.”
Van Grack “failed to correct the record or disclose that” they were in possession of and had accessed “a significant volume of privileged materials.
The failure was intentional; they wanted the privileged communications.
Deceptive edits of Trump lawyer John Dowd’s voicemail, produced to Van Grack, made its way to the Mueller Report.
They omitted the section where Dowd asked Flynn’s lawyers not to disclose “confidential information.”
HT @lastrefuge2
We reached out to John Dowd about the Van Grack/Mueller deception.
He called it “unfair and despicable”
Van Grack used a corrupt reading of FARA laws (since rejected by 2 courts) to target Mike Flynn Jr.
Not to prosecute Flynn Jr., but to force General Flynn to plea.
Flynn Jr. became an official target on 10/20/17. Flynn signed the plea deal on 11/30/17.
HT @lastrefuge2
Flynn Intel Group (FARA) case – overseen by Van Grack.
DOJ tells Judge that “Flynn was not a member of the alleged conspiracy”
DOJ then tries to label Flynn a co-conspirator. This was rejected by the Judge.
corrected HT: @TheLastRefuge2
Van Grack’s FARA case (prosecuted by EDVA) against Flynn Intel Group member Rafiekian was a disaster from the start.
It was Soon before trial and the DOJ couldn’t figure out how to instruct the jury on the FARA violation.
As the Rafiekian (Flynn Intel Group) case unraveled, they designated Flynn Jr. as a witness to intimidate Flynn.
This was pure tactics – Flynn Jr. was never called as a witness.
Despite DOJ assertion that Flynn Intel Group member Rafiekian was acting as a foreign agent for Turkey…
Van Grack/EDVA never investigated whether the agreement was funded by the Turkish government.
The threat against Flynn – labeling him as a co-conspirator – came after he refused to agree to the false narrative set forth by Van Grack.
The Judge in the Rafiekian case disagreed: “Flynn has not disavowed what is in the statement of facts.”
The false charges claimed by Van Grack – that “Flynn had agreed to plead to a knowing and intentional false FARA filing” – was actually deleted from a draft of the Flynn Agreement.
This is important because Van Grack was telling Judge Sullivan in December 2018 that Flynn could be charged as a foreign agent under 18 USC 951.
Van Grack’s Section 951 theory was rejected by the Judge in the Rafiekian case.
“Such a reading is unwarranted . . . based on the plain language of Section 951.”
Judge Sullivan may have concerns about Van Grack’s Section 951 interpretation and VG’s claim Flynn could have been prosecuted.
If “there was no factual predicate for that FARA violation, then it should not have been mentioned at all as a potential ‘benefit’”
As to Van Grack’s conduct in the Flynn case…
They confused the FBI Agents’ notes (Strzok/Pientka)
As to the FARA charges, Van Grack would have known this likely created a non-consentable conflict of interest between Flynn and his prior counsel.
Conflicts disregarded; they needed the plea.
