Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he told President Donald Trump that Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn should receive a pardon. Foreign intelligence was unfairly weaponized against Flynn in a way that should be unconstitutional, Paul said.
In 2017, Mueller took over an FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with such interference. After nearly two years, he finished it without recommending any indictments related to collusion.
Paul took issue with how the call transcripts were obtained and used.
“No American should be prosecuted for something they said in a private phone call unless a judge gave a warrant to the government and said they can listen to the phone call,” he said. “They listened to General Flynn because they were spying on the Russian ambassador. Okay, that’s foreign intelligence, but that shouldn’t be domestic prosecution. So what they did to Flynn not only was unfair, but I think should be unconstitutional.“
The senator would like to see even the incidental use of foreign intelligence against Americans greatly abridged.
“I’ve been bugging the president for years to come forward and fix this for all Americans and say that no foreign intelligence gathering of information could ever be used against an American citizen in court for a crime unrelated to terrorism,” he said. “So what they did to General Flynn was unfair, and I have told the president—he’s not responded to me—but I’ve told him my opinion is that he ought to pardon General Flynn.”
Surveillance of Americans
On paper, Americans can’t be surveilled by the government without a warrant signed by a judge. But intelligence agencies have ways to circumvent the constitutional protection. The communication may be intercepted, for example, if the American is on the phone with a surveillance target outside the United States or a foreign agent inside the United States who is being spied on through a warrant issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That’s what happened to Flynn, based on Paul’s comments.FISA Abuse
The Page warrant was largely based on the infamous Steele dossier, a collection of unsubstantiated claims of Trump-Russia collusion collected by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele, who was hired at the behest of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.Another investigation into the alleged FISA abuses has been conducted by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
With the Mueller probe concluded, that obstacle should be out of the way, although Trump also said that “'key Allies’ called to ask not to release” the documents.
“In the end, I can always declassify if it proves necessary,” Trump said.