Anonymous ID: c0e81d May 11, 2018, 2:49 p.m. No.1376273   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>6310

NRA sues Gov. Cuomo over what it calls blacklisting campaign

 

NEW YORK (AP) - The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit Friday against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's financial regulatory agency for what it says is a blacklisting campaign aimed at preventing firms from doing business with the gun owners' group.

 

The lawsuit filed in federal court for the northern district of New York names the Democratic governor along with the state Department of Financial Services and its superintendent, Maria Vullo, as defendants.

 

It accuses Cuomo of directing a campaign of "selective prosecution, backroom exhortations, and public threats" aimed at depriving the NRA and its members of their First Amendment rights "to speak freely about gun-related issues."

Anonymous ID: c0e81d May 11, 2018, 3:06 p.m. No.1376435   🗄️.is đź”—kun

May 11, 2018

The Honorable Rod J. Rosenstein

Deputy Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20530

The Honorable Christopher A. Wray

Director

Federal Bureau of Investigation

935 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, D.C. 20535

Dear Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Director Wray:

On February 15, 2017, this Committee requested on a bipartisan basis a copy of the

transcript of the widely reported call between Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and the Russian

ambassador and the FBI report summarizing the intercepted calls. The Justice Department

declined to provide any of that information, and instead then-FBI Director Comey provided a

wide-ranging briefing to us on March 15, 2017 that touched on the Flynn issues.

Like the Flynn interview itself, that briefing was not transcribed. Also like the Flynn

interview, there are notes taken by a career, non-partisan law enforcement officer who was

present. The agent was on detail to the Committee staff at the time. According to that agent’s

contemporaneous notes, Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI

agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn, “saw nothing that led them to believe [he

was] lying.” Our own Committee staff’s notes indicate that Mr. Comey said the “agents saw no

change in his demeanor or tone that would say he was being untruthful.”

Contrary to his public statements during his current book tour denying any memory of

those comments, then-Director Comey led us to believe during that briefing that the agents who

interviewed Flynn did not believe he intentionally lied about his conversation with the

Ambassador and that the Justice Department was unlikely to prosecute him for false statements

made in that interview. In the months since then, the Special Counsel obtained a guilty plea

from Lt. General Flynn for that precise alleged conduct.

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Director Wray

May 11, 2018

Page 2 of 2

The Department has withheld the Flynn-related documents since our initial bipartisan

request last year, citing an ongoing criminal investigation. With Flynn’s plea, the investigation

appears concluded. Additionally, while we are aware that the Special Counsel’s office has

moved to delay Lt. General Flynn’s sentencing on several occasions, we presume that all related

records already have been provided to the defense pursuant to Judge Sullivan’s February 16,

2018 order requiring production of all potentially exculpatory material. Thus, although the case

is not yet adjudicated, the Committee’s oversight interest in the underlying documents requested

more than a year ago now outweighs any legitimate executive branch interest in withholding it.

So too does the Committee’s interest in learning the FBI agents’ actual assessments of their

interview of Lt. Gen. Flynn, particularly given the apparent contradiction between what thenDirectory

Comey told us in March 2017 and what he now claims.

Accordingly, no later than May 25, 2018, please provide:

  1. The information requested in our February 15, 2017 letter, including the transcripts of the

reportedly intercepted calls and any FBI reports summarizing them; and

  1. The FBI agents’ 302s memorializing their interview of Flynn and 1A supporting docs,

including the agents’ notes.

In addition, please make Special Agent Joe Pientka available for a transcribed interview

with Committee staff no later than one week following the production of the requested

documents. If you have any questions about this request please don’t hesitate to contact Patrick

Davis of my staff at (202) 224-5225. Thanks for your prompt attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley

Chairman

cc: The Honorable Dianne Feinstein

Ranking Member

 

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-05-11%20CEG%20to%20DOJ%20FBI%20(Flynn%20Transcript).pdf

Anonymous ID: c0e81d May 11, 2018, 3:13 p.m. No.1376503   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>6553

>>1376472

>>1376451

 

Use LOGIC.

Stay on point.

This is NOT about a single person.

This is NOT about fame, followers, or profiteering.

We, the PEOPLE.

We, the PEOPLE.

We, the PEOPLE.

THERE WILL COME A TIME THEY WILL NOT BE SAFE WALKING DOWN THE STREET.

We will not be held hostage.