President Donald Trump issued a threatening tweet about CNN late Wednesday night, claiming Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, had suffered “persecution” at the news outlet’s hands.
“@CNN doesn’t want to speak about their persecution of General Michael Flynn & why they got the story so wrong,” Trump tweeted. “They, along with others, should pay a big price for what they have purposely done to this man & his family.”
“They won’t even cover the big breaking news about this scam!” he added.
Based on his retweets of right-wing news outlets before the sinister post, Trump seemed to be referring to documents presented by Flynn’s lawyers showing former FBI intelligence director Bill Priestap’s thoughts on how investigators ought to interview the adviser in the 2017 Russian election interference probe.
“What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Priestap wrote in a handwritten note. “I don’t see how getting someone to admit their wrongdoing is going easy on him.
“If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DOJ & have them decide,” he continued. Or, if he initially lies, then we present him [redacted] & he admits it, document for DOJ, & let them decide how to address it.”
It’s unclear why Trump accused CNN of not covering the story, which can be read here.
Flynn agreed to a plea bargain with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in December 2017 after he was indicted to lying to the FBI. However, he later accused the intelligence agency of setting him up and is currently pushing to get his case dismissed.
Trump has repeatedly come to Flynn’s defense, claiming that investigators had “ruined” his former adviser’s life and even calling the FBI “human scum” for pursuing the case.
“What happened to General Michael Flynn, a war hero, should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again!” Trump tweeted on Thursday morning.
The President has not yet said whether he plans to pardon Flynn.
