Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said Sunday that he was the target of “political persecution” when he was interviewed by the FBI and eventually charged with lying to its agents.
“My persecution was a political persecution and that’s really clear and the evidence has come out in spades,” Flynn told Maria Bartiromo, host of Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “Basically it was a get Flynn to get [President Donald] Trump direction.”
Flynn was commenting on a video of former FBI Director James Comey being interviewed by MSNBC. Comey explained during the segment that he sent agents over to interview Flynn when he was alone in the White House without a lawyer present.
“Nobody else was there. They interviewed him in a conference room at the White House Situation Room and he lied to them,” Comey said in the video. (RELATED: Michael Flynn: ‘I Regret Pleading Guilty’)
Bartiromo asked Flynn what he thought Comey’s comments.
“Yeah, a big ‘ha ha moment’ for Cardinal Comey,” Flynn responded after watching the segment. “What an arrogant smug person that he is, so that’ll be my last comment about him,” the former U.S. Army general said.
“The culture and the behavior that was developed or allowed or enabled under the previous administration in elements of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States intelligence community and other parts of our institutions is outrageous. The culture and that behavior has to change. It has to be corrected,” Flynn continued.
He described that culture as a “kind of smugness and arrogance and basically a holier than thou attitude within our government institutions” that is directed inconsistently at the American public.
“America deserves accountability. We deserve accountability [from] these bureaucrats and appointed officials in our government.”
Flynn has been active in the Trump campaign’s efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 presidential election. He recently signed a petition from the non-profit group “We The People Convention” that said there was “no peaceful way left to preserve our Union” if President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated and said Trump needs to intervene with his “extraordinary authority” in order to avoid another civil war.(RELATED: FBI Planned To Close Michael Flynn Investigation, And Then Peter Strzok Intervened)
President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse on June 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Criminal sentencing for Flynn will be on hold for at least another two months. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
Trump last month granted a presidential pardon to Flynn, who had initially pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.