FBI Director Wray opens internal investigation into alleged misconduct of Michael Flynn case

The FBI announced Friday that Director Chris Wray has ordered an internal review of the handling of the bureau’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, which will include examining whether current FBI employees "engaged in misconduct."

“FBI Director Christopher Wray today ordered the Bureau’s Inspection Division to conduct an after-action review of the Michael Flynn investigation,” the bureau said in a statement.

The review will be handled by the bureau’s Inspection Division, the FBI said. That division is similar to an internal affairs office in a police department.

The bureau said the “after-action review” will have a two-fold purpose: evaluating the FBI’s role in the case and determining whether any “current employees engaged in misconduct,” as well as identifying whether any “improvements” might be warranted to FBI procedures.

“Although the FBI does not have the prosecutorial authority to bring a criminal case, the Inspection Division can and will evaluate whether any current onboard employees engaged in actions that might warrant disciplinary measures,” the FBI said.

The FBI's investigation -- along with Flynn's guilty plea on false statement charges and subsequent attempt to withdraw that plea -- has made for a lengthy and unpredictable case, as supporters of Flynn insist he was unfairly and wrongly targeted by the FBI at the beginning of the Trump administration.

This development comes just weeks after the Justice Department moved to drop its case against Flynn as internal memos were released raising questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI -- and specifically about the early 2017 interview that led to that plea.

Many of the top bureau offi... (Read more)

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