Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) lamented the erosion of trust in the U.S. intelligence community that he contends is a result of the previous administration’s handling of the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
Rubio laid out the “bizarre” circumstances of the investigation into Flynn and remarked how former FBI Director James Comey and others had done damage to the intelligence apparatus with behavior since leaving the public sector.
“There’s a process by which the FBI comes in to talk to somebody. You consult with the White House Counsel, you potentially show the individual you’re asking questions of a transcript, and by the way, you’re asking questions that are relevant to a potential crime in essence that are material to an ongoing and legitimate investigation,” Rubio said. “And there are questions about two of those three things. We know they didn’t show them the transcripts of what it is they were asking about. We know that they didn’t coordinate with the White House Counsel. They actually went in there sort of under false pretenses and in what appears to be an effort to entrap them. This whole thing makes no sense. Michael Flynn was a long-time member of the intelligence community. He would have known that any time anyone talks to a foreign official, there are chances are that — that those calls are being intercepted potentially by multiple agencies around the world. I mean, you know, this happens all the time. And he would certainly know what’s out there and who listens to what, including other countries for that matter.”
“And so, you know, again, I think that — I think all of this is a bizarre turn of events and there’s a lot of legitimate questions to ask about whether, in fact, the FBI did not follow normal protocols here. We know, for example, from public disclosures now that the FBI’s agents all said that they didn’t think Mr. Flynn had lied,” he continued. “And, I don’t know, Mr. Flynn, I’m not one — I just think it’s really important to protect the integrity and the trustworthiness of agencies is important as the FBI, and things like this undermine it. The damage that’s been done to the intelligence community, but particularly to the FBI by the behavior of a handful of individuals and his post-career behavior especially by Mr. Comey have — have been, I think, incredibly damaging to a very important agency, who’s overwhelming number of employees are not the kinds of people that would do this. But obviously, there are some people there that decided to, for whatever reason, act in a way that has damaged that — that agency and the bureau.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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