K.T. McFarland: Mueller wanted me to 'implicate' Trump

K.T. McFarland (Fox News screenshot)

Former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller wanted her to "implicate" President Trump.

She recently claimed that FBI agents deployed by Mueller's team had set her up for a "perjury trap."

McFarland, who served under former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, last week told "Fox & Friends" her life "went to hell" at the beginning of the Russia probe because investigators were convinced she was Trump's link to the Russians, FoxNews.com reported

"The FBI showed up at my house unannounced. I was all by myself. They come in and I said, 'Do I need a lawyer for anything? I have never met with any Russians. I have never dealt with any Russians,'" she told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade.

Supporters of Flynn contend he is innocent and was forced to plead guilty to perjury in the Mueller probe when his son was threatened with prosecution and ran out of money.

Mueller concluded there was no collusion, and U.S. Attorney John Durham is leading a criminal investigation of the origins of the Obama administration's probe of the Trump campaign.

The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that McFarland told the CPAC audience Mueller's team "wanted me to plead guilty for a crime I didn't commit" to get her to help them "implicate" Trump in wrongdoing.

She disclosed that after eight hours of questioning, FBI investigators warned her "it's probably good for you" that she answered their questions, which she took as a sinister hint of things to come.

Later she was interviewed again.

"I shook hands with Mr. Mueller, and I shook hands with his five killer lawyers. The implication of their questions is they wanted me to plead guilty for a crime I didn't commit," she explained.

McFarland said they either wanted to pressure her "to plead guilty to lying" and hoped "that I would implicate others, potentially even the president of the United States."

"That was their narrative," she said.

The FBI grilled her about conversations with Flynn, Trump campaign chief executive Steve Bannon and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. But he hired new lawyers last year and now has filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. His lawyers now want dismissal of his case.