Biden backtracks after saying he knew 'nothing' about Flynn probe

Former Vice President Joe Biden on ABC's "Good Morning America" on May 12, 2020 (screenshot)

Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed in an ABC News interview Tuesday he knew "nothing" about the controversial prosecution of Michael Flynn, President Trump's first national security adviser.

But the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was forced to backtrack when reminded by "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos of his presence at a secret Oval Office meeting.

"So, what did you know about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn, and was anything improper done?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"I knew nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn, number one. Number two, this is all about diversion!" Biden replied.

Stephanopoulos then recalled the Jan. 5, 2017, meeting in which President Obama discussed a possible Logan Act charge against Flynn for his phone call with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

"You were reported to be in a January 5th, 2017 meeting where you and the president were briefed on the FBI's plan to question Michael Flynn over those conversations he had with the Russian ambassador Kislyak," Stephanopoulos said.

Biden replied that he thought Stephanopoulos was asking about whether he had anything to do with Flynn being prosecuted.

"I, I, I was aware that there was, that there, that they asked for an investigation," Biden said.

"But that's all I know about it," he continued. "And I don't think anything else."

See the segment:

'Joe Biden was in the room'

Newly released documents in the Flynn case confirming the former Trump official's claim that he was framed by the FBI led to the Justice Department moving Thursday to drop the case.

Longtime Washington analyst Byron York reported in a Washington Examiner column there's "a Joe Biden connection deep inside" documents.

He explained that Sally Yates, Obama's deputy attorney general, played a key role in the Flynn investigation. But she told special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors she was unaware of the phone call at the center of the Flynn case between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak until she was told about it by Obama at the infamous Jan. 5, 2017, meeting.

Other officials at the meeting were FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

According to records, Obama eventually dismissed the group but asked Yates and Comey to stay. The president then explained he had obtained information about Flynn's conversation with Kislyak.

"What does that have to do with Biden? The interview notes made no mention of the vice president," York writes.

"But think back to one of the stranger moments in the Trump-Russia investigation: Rice, on January 20, 2017, at almost the exact minute the Obama administration left office, sent an email to herself documenting the January 5 meeting. This is how it began: 'On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.'"

York points out that the email always seemed "to be an oddly timed effort to cover for Obama," since it stressed that Obama instructed that all issues be handled "by the book."

"A lot of Republicans, as they tried to figure out what steps the intelligence and law enforcement agencies took against incoming President Trump, have always wondered just what Obama knew about it," York noted.

"But now, it just so happens that another person who was in the room -- the Oval Office -- is running for president. So it seems reasonable to ask what Joe Biden knew about the intelligence and law enforcement efforts against the Trump team."

Trump campaign spokesman Matt Wolking commented: "Joe Biden was in the room when one of the greatest abuses of power by an administration in American history was in progress. ... What did Joe Biden know and when did he know it?"