May 10, 2020: She Wrote That Barr Twisted Her Words on Flynn

DOCUMENTED

Official FBI portrait of Robert S. Mueller III

Robert S. Mueller III. Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. government work.

On May 10, 2020, the New York Times published an opinion essay by Mary McCord: Bill Barr Twisted My Words in Dropping the Flynn Case. Here’s the Truth. The piece is her byline. It is opinion journalism. It is not a judicial opinion.

In the essay she wrote that the report of her interview was no support for Mr. Barr’s dismissal of the Flynn case, that it did not suggest the FBI lacked a counterintelligence reason to investigate Flynn, and that it did not support a claim that Flynn’s statements were not material. She also wrote that it was disingenuous for the department to twist her words. Those sentences are hers, in a paper that published them.

CNN, Axios, and others recapped the op-ed. Recaps are reporting. The primary for her argument is the Times page. This file does not treat the essay as proof that the dismissal motion was unlawful. It does not treat the essay as proof that Flynn’s case was sound. It records that the former Acting AAG went public against the Department’s use of her interview.

Sources

Mary McCord. Bill Barr Twisted My Words in Dropping the Flynn Case. New York Times. May 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com

Just the News, March 16, 2020. Earlier Mueller-summary paraphrase (separate document). justthenews.com

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

She wanted the last word on her 302. The Times gave it to her. The Solomon write-up of the Mueller summary still sits in the same folder. If those two stories feel like they pull in different directions, that is the reader’s job. This site will not pick a winner by inventing a quote.