The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has apparently brought an end to the years-long legal saga triggered by a January 2017 visit by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pietka to the White House to interview the general about his phone talks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
During the litigation, the Flynn legal team unveiled a number of documents apparently indicating that US intelligence agents, with the backing of senior Obama officials, set a perjury trap for the Trump aide. The notes handed over to Sidney Powell, the general's defence attorney, by acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin and the US District Court for the District of Columbia have shed more light on the FBI probe against Flynn and the apparent role of ex-Vice President Joe Biden in the investigation.
Flynn-Kislyak Communications Were 'Entirely Normal' Practice
"In Washington, evidence of FBI working notes revealed today strengthens the case that President Trump’s disgraced (but now exonerated) National Security Adviser, the distinguished General Michael Flynn, was entrapped by a contrived criminal investigation orchestrated by former President Barack Obama and FBI Director James Comey, that should never have taken place", opines Tony Kevin, former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia.
The partly redacted handwritten notes presumably written by former FBI official Peter Strzok between 3 and 5 January 2017, allegedly show then-FBI Director James Comey's admission that the Flynn-Kislyak phone conversations "appear legit".
According to Kevin, it was "entirely normal" for Flynn to hold talks with Ambassador Kislyak at that time: the general, who had been named as incoming national security adviser, "was using the traditional transition period of two months between the election date and the inauguration date to hold conversations with key foreign ambassadors In Washington, including Russian Ambassador Kislyak, about the incoming president’s policy vision and goals".
However, then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden pushed for an investigation into Flynn, with Biden allegedly proposing to use the Logan Act against the general.
"Peter Strzok’s handwritten notes show that Vice President Joe Biden took part in the key conversation with Obama and Comey and FBI senior agents; that Biden suggested using the Logan Act against Flynn, a very old law: and that Biden said that in his ten years on the Intelligence Committee he had never seen such a thing", Ambassador Kevin notes.
The Logan Act is a 1799 law prohibiting unauthorized American citizens from entering negotiations with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States. While the law has never been used to successfully prosecute any US citizen, some observers argued back in 2017 that the legislation could not be used against Flynn, as he had already been named as an incoming Trump administration official by the time the phone talks occurred.
The newly obtained documentary evidence of Obama and Biden's "direct" and "personal" involvement in the operation against Flynn is "the real news", according to former CIA analyst Larry Johnson.
"So much for disparaging intelligent folk as 'conspiracy theorists' for daring to declare that Obama and Biden played a direct and significant role in the plot to destroy the Trump Presidency before it was born. We have it in 'black and white'", the CIA veteran underscores, posing the question whether the plot involving Obama, Biden and Comey was "criminal".
New Documents 'Unlikely' to Affect Biden's Campaign
Initially, Joe Biden denied the allegation that he was part of Operation Razor apparently aimed at framing Michael Flynn. However, this May he admitted that he had known about the investigation against the Trump aide.
"I think it's beyond obvious now that the Obama administration was playing politics with our nation's law enforcement apparatus", presumes Ethan Ralph, founder of a conservative website, The Ralph Retort. "The idea that Joe Biden himself was personally involved doesn't strike me as being out of the question, in fact, it seems likely".
While Flynn's legal battle appears to be over at this time, one might ask whether the newly uncovered documents and other evidence suggesting that the general was framed by former Obama officials and ex-FBI agents may affect the ongoing election campaign of presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who possibly had a hand in Operation Razor.
"It is hard to see yet how this might impact the presidential campaign. But it could become important", responds Tony Kevin.
For his part, Anthony Robert Pahnke, professor of international relations at San Francisco State University, finds it hard to believe that the recent developments will have any impact on the Biden campaign.
"There are just too many technical legal issues going on for the general public to make sense of this", the professor emphasises. "Most of the discussion, furthermore, seems along party lines, that is, with Republicans trying to make this about making Biden corrupt, whereas Democrats chose to blame Attorney General Barr of improper meddling."
According to him, the ongoing debate is largely shaped by partisan division.
"Regardless, it is likely that this decision will still be further appealed and will come back at some later time for discussion", he concludes.