flynn as national security adviser for approximately five minutes. while he was under investigation as a potential foreign agent of the nation of turkey, and before he started lying to federal investigators about his communications with the russian government. when we all read in the new york times in may 2017 that they had hired him anyway, even though they knew, even though they had been warned, and we learned that the investigation into the matter is being led by a veteran espionage prosecutor, named brandon van grack, and remember, just my stomach flipping over the seriousness of this thing. there is one thing there is some shenanigans, there is some maybe not the best people, there is some incompetence, there is some cavalierness, some stuff to worry about here, but when it s the espionage prosecutor that has to be working on the case involving the new national
the legitimacy of the government to exercise its authority. i mean it is a department that has the ability to deprive an individual of their liberty. and so the legitimacy of that department is paramount. and i think the attorney general not only appreciates that but you can see through his words and deeds that that is a constant thing in how he acts. brandon van grack, veteran prosecutor from the u.s. justice department, member of special counsel robert mueller s team, again, your first u.s. tv interview i hope it is not your last, i hope you come back. we ll be right back. stay with us. ight back. stay with us it s dr. scholl s time. our custom fit orthotics use foot mapping technology to give you personalized support, for all-day pain relief. find your relief in store or online.
van greg? it is a very memorable name, you might remember the sound of it and if not the circumstance you first heard. it but if you are like me, and all likelihood the first time you heard the name brandon van grack was the first time you heard the word espionage formally associated with the presidency of donald trump. espionage as in the espionage act. as in not just spy movie stuff. as in u.s. law. there are only about four months in to the trump administration when the new york times was first to report that the then brand new trump administration had made a very unusual hiring decision that ultimately implicated the work of a veteran espionage prosecutor at the u.s. department of justice. it was very early on, it was may 2017 so you think about that for a second, trump was inaugurated at the end of january, this was less than four months later, in
barr appointee took over in the u.s. attorney s office in dc and moved to withdraw the government s case against flynn. even though flynn by then had already pled guilty twice. he resigned from the flynn investigate and continued the justice department unit that prosecutors unregistered foreign agents. in that role the first official to oversee all foreign influence operations across the u.s. justice department. brandon van grack has since left the justice department but boy there is nobody i would rather talk to tonight about what is going on in our country with these remarkable and unprecedented charges and investigations involving the former president. brandon van grack joins us live here in the studio next.
line from the first blood-curdling headlines about what was going on with this president and national security. five and a half years they hired him, a national security adviser, even though they knew he was under federal investigation as a potential foreign agent, five and a half years down the line, that trump national security adviser, michael flynn, has been pardoned by trump, after he pled guilty to lying to investigators about his contacts with a different foreign hostile government and the defense department announced they would try to recoup tens of thousands of dollars, the russian government paid to michael flynn that he never declared. five and a half years down the line from the stomach-churning start of that plot in the spring of 2017, that veteran espionage prosecutor who led the investigation when we first learned about it in the spring of 2017, brandon van grack has left the justice department and the government service and