OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served a short stint as then-President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, lauded House conservatives for pushing Speaker Kevin McCarthy to adopt what he sees as a key rule change in exchange for their support.
Flynn, whose tenure with the Trump administration was cut short by a scandal not of his own making, praised the group of Freedom Caucus members for extracting a pledge from the California Republican to establish a committee tasked with examining the alleged politicization of the Justice Department and FBI against Americans with certain political and cultural viewpoints.
Specifically, Flynn focused on a rule he believes “could give us one more opportunity to restore much of our constitutional republic,” and “could lead to the exposure of the long train of abuses that have been visited on Americans by a politicized FBI, Justice Department, and the larger security state.”
The rule, which has since been adopted, calls for creating a subcommittee under the House Judiciary Committee, now led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The resolution established “a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary,” Flynn noted, citing the language of the rule.
“For the past six months, the organization I have the privilege to head, America’s Future, has been conducting an examination of how two components of the federal government have been weaponized against the American people. The results have been published in a series of 18 reports called “Unequal Justice Under Law,” which have focused on the FBI and the DOJ,” Flynn noted in his column.
“Those reports provide important context as to exactly what needs to be exposed and reformed. In fact, the most recent of these reports, issued Jan. 6, 2023, called for the creation of a new ‘Church Committee,’ which is very much like what we hope the Weaponization Subcommittee will be. A review of history from nearly a half-century ago is instructive,” he added.
Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency for a time under President Barack Obama, noted further that the 1970s-era Church Committee, which was named after Democratic Sen. Frank Church of Idaho, was empaneled after the resignation of then-President Richard Nixon in 1973. Nixon stepped down ahead of what many believed would have been a successful impeachment after he was found to have been involved in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee, then headquartered in the Watergate Hotel.
However, that wasn’t the focus of the committee. Rather, its objective was to investigate and then recommend a series of intelligence community reforms after the CIA was exposed for massive domestic spying of American political opponents of the establishment — a gross violation of the agency’s mandate.
Last week, Flynn criticized the justice system and the U.S. Supreme Court in particular during a recent podcast where he discussed the fate of several Americans who remain jailed after being arrested for alleged crimes during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Flynn laid into the nation’s highest court and in particular, Chief Justice John Roberts, ostensibly for failing to act on behalf of Americans he believes have been denied constitutional rights and due process under the law.
He said: “Exculpatory evidence is something that I learned quite a bit about because the FBI and the Department of Justice but remember, folks, the FBI works for the Department of justice, and the Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice. And then, of course, they work for the President of the United States. So when somebody goes, well, they’re appointed, or whatever… No. So … exculpatory evidence is evidence that is good or bad for a defendant, right? It can be good or bad, but you have to receive it. It’s a Supreme Court ruling that you have to receive it. Exculpatory evidence could be video.”
Flynn, who served a short stint as then-President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, turned his ire at the Supreme Court and Roberts.
“The United States Supreme Court, they have a role in all of this. They have a role to protect the integrity of the justice system, the judiciary, particularly the judiciary, in fact, specifically the judiciary. When we look at somebody…and there are constitutional issues that are being violated, your rights are being violated constitutionally. So where the hell is Justice Roberts? Where is Chief Justice Roberts?” he said.
“The justices on that court, especially the chief justice, have an obligation to protect the integrity of the Constitution and the integrity of the judiciary because they’re the highest court in the land. And so I kind of question, like, where the hell are they? I mean, they cannot sit there and say, well, we didn’t know. We’re not aware,” he added.
