Sen. Cruz: Investigation Into General Flynn Was Bogus Political Persecution
WASHINGTON, D.C - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe at a full committee hearing examining his role in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the FBI's FISA abuses. Watch Sen. Cruz's full line of questioning here.
WATCH: Sen. Cruz to McCabe: Crossfire Hurricane Investigation Was Bogus Political Persecution
On the FBI's decision to close and then later reopen the investigation into General Michael Flynn, Sen. Cruz asked:
"As you know, the FBI team investigating General Flynn prepared a memo dated January 4th, 2017, to close the investigation into Flynn as lacking any basis to continue. The FBI had investigated and failed to find any derogatory information about General Flynn and determined he was no longer a viable candidate for investigation. But then, according to Peter Strzok, the seventh floor, the top brass at the FBI intervened to keep the investigation open. Were you the one who made the decision to keep the investigation open?"
Mr. McCabe responded:
"I don't remember making that decision, but I certainly supported keeping the case open. I don't remember being the person that made that phone call, but I think that it was the right move to continue investigating once we had uncovered the investigation, the information that we found."
On the decision to use the Logan Act as a basis to investigate General Flynn, Sen. Cruz said:
"So the only basis - this is a decorated three star general. The only basis that was put forward for what I think was a bogus political persecution and prosecution was an alleged violation of the Logan Act, which has never been used to prosecute anybody in the history of the Department of Justice. [...]
"The Logan Act is unconstitutional, which is why it's never been used to prosecute anyone. You authorized using it to go after General Flynn as part of a political persecution. [...] That was your flimsy political basis to go after a decorated war hero because you disagreed with politically with President Trump."
In September, Sen. Cruz questioned former FBI Director James Comey regarding his role in the FBI's FISA abuse. In August, Sen. Cruz questioned former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates on her decision to sign off on an investigation into key Trump campaign aide Carter Page and her role in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. In June, Sen. Cruz questioned former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on his role in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
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