Joe Biden Changes Story Again About Michael Flynn: Not Aware of ‘Criminal’ Investigation

Former Vice President Joe Biden told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday evening that he had not been aware of any “criminal investigation” of Michael Flynn before leaving office in January 2017. However, on Tuesday, Biden admitted on ABC’s Good Morning America that he had known that “they had asked for an investigation” into Flynn. On Wednesday, Biden was revealed to be one of the members of the Obama administration who had asked for Flynn’s name to be “unmasked” in intelligence reports. Biden made his “unmasking” request on Jan. 12, 2017, the same day Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador were reported in the Washington Post by columnist David Ignatius. Biden participated Thursday in a virtual town hall on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. RealClearPolitics noted that O’Donnell spent “less than a minute” asking Biden about the Flynn controversy:

O’Donnell: The issue of people wanting the attorney general to resign is over the Michael Flynn case where the attorney general is basically trying to drop the case as a federal judge questioning how that case is being dropped. Mr. Vice President, what was your involvement in the investigation of Michael Flynn and the FBI investigation of Michael Flynn?

Biden: I was never a part, or had any knowledge, of any criminal investigation into Flynn while I was in office, period. Not one single time.

O’Donnell did not ask a follow-up question. On Tuesday, Biden initially told George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America that he had known “nothing” about the effort to investigate Flynn. When Stephanopoulos followed up, asking Biden specifically about his presence at a January 5, 2017, meeting in the Oval Office with President Barack Obama at which the Flynn investigation was discussed, the former Vice President said: “No, I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. I was aware that there was — that they had asked for an investigation. But that’s all I know about it and I don’t think anything else.” The FBI had already been conducting a counterintelligence investigation into Flynn by Jan. 5; FBI agents had wanted to close the case but were prevented from doing so by agent Peter Strzok, acting on the instructions of senior FBI leadership. The question of a “criminal investigation” may have been moot. When FBI agents met Flynn at the White House on Jan. 24, they were not investigating him for any crime, according to notes revealed recently.

https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/05/15/joe-biden-changes-story-again-about-michael-flynn-not-aware-of-criminal-investigation/#

Justice Department, State Attorneys General Likely to Bring Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google

Both the federal and state investigations are focused on Google’s ad business.

WASHINGTON—Both the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general are likely to file antitrust lawsuits against Alphabet Inc.’s Google—and are well into planning for litigation, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department is moving toward bringing a case as soon as this summer, some of the people said. At least some state attorneys general—led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican—are likely to file a case, probably in the fall, people familiar with the matter said. Much of the states’ investigation has focused on Google’s online advertising business. The company owns the dominant tool at every link in the complex chain between online publishers and advertisers. The Justice Department likewise is making Google’s ad technology one of its points of emphasis. But it is also focusing more broadly on concerns that Google uses its dominant search business to stifle competition, people familiar with the matter said. Details about the Justice Department’s legal theories for a case against Google couldn’t be learned.

Though the coronavirus pandemic has complicated work for the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barrhas devoted considerable resources to the Google probe and continues to treat it as a top priority. Mr. Barr told The Wall Street Journal in March that he wanted the Justice Department to make a final call this summer. “I’m hoping that we bring it to fruition early summer,” Mr. Barr said at the time. “And by fruition I mean, decision time.”

Mr. Paxton of Texas said the pandemic was not slowing the states’ efforts. “We’ve issued [civil subpoenas] to Google and impacted third parties. We hope to have the investigation wrapped up by fall,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement. “If we determine that filing is merited we will go to court soon after that.”

“We continue to engage with the ongoing investigations led by the Department of Justice and Attorney General Paxton, and we don’t have any updates or comments on speculation. Our focus is firmly on providing services that help consumers, support thousands of businesses and enable increased choice and competition,” a Google spokeswoman said. The department continues to gather information in its probe and all signs point toward it bringing a case, the people said, but both the federal and state investigations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made. Investigations at times can be settled without litigation, though it’s unclear whether an agreement could be reached in the Google probes. One unanswered question is whether the states will file their own complaint, or simply join in the federal case when it is filed. It’s even possible different groups of states will file separate complaints. Texas has been focused closely on ad tech issues, while some other states have been more interested in Google’s search function, for example, according to people familiar with the matter.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-state-attorneys-general-likely-to-bring-antitrust-lawsuits-against-google-11589573622