The testimony counters repeated insinuations by President Donald Trump and his top allies.
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told lawmakers Wednesday that neither President Barack Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden attempted to influence the FBI’s investigation of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn during a January 2017 Oval Office meeting with top national security officials.
“During the meeting, the president, the vice president, the national security adviser did not attempt to any way to direct or influence any investigation,” Yates said during sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The testimony counters repeated insinuations by President Donald Trump and his top allies that Obama and Biden took a leading role in steering an investigation into the incoming national security adviser, a charge Trump has used to claim he was the victim of an unspecified crime he has dubbed “Obamagate.”
Trump has provided no evidence to support the claim, and Yates said under oath that Obama’s only interest in Flynn was to ensure that it was safe to share sensitive national security information with the incoming administration while the FBI was probing concerns that Flynn was attempting to undermine sanctions leveled by Obama in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
“General Flynn had essentially neutered the U.S. government’s message of deterrence,” Yates said.
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Sally Yates said today that Obama and Biden did not attempt to influence the FBI investigation of Flynn during a January 2017 Oval Office meeting with top national security officials.
Her testimony counters repeated insinuations by Trump and his allies. https://t.co/gv1GQlFGxo
— POLITICO (@politico) August 5, 2020Trump: Yates either lying or grossly incompetent https://t.co/FMaQFXEVm2 pic.twitter.com/9e9vum3sS5
— The Hill (@thehill) August 6, 2020
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