Nunes claims 'senior intelligence folks' made Michael Flynn plead guilty

Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) claimed that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn was prosecuted because he wanted to remove “senior intelligence folks” from their positions.

“They had a real reason to get rid of General Flynn,” Nunes said, echoing the “deep state” conspiracy that has often been pushed by Donald Trump, his congressional allies, and conservative media.

In reality, Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his communications Russia, one of several guilty pleas or convictions stemming from special counsel Mueller’s nearly two-year-long probe.

From the Feb. 28 session of CPAC:

DEVIN NUNES: The frustrating part about this is that I know – because I was on the Trump transition team – one of the things that Gen. Flynn wanted to do, he thought it was critically important that we empty out the swamp of all the senior intelligence folks that are in Washington, D.C.

 

So they had a real reason to get rid of Gen. Flynn. And, because he was going to downsize the NSC [National Security Council], downsize the rest of the IC [Intelligence Community] elements in the swamp, push people out to the field which is were you can actually get intelligence, that’s what he wanted to do.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.