Trump Calls FBI Agents Who Investigated Michael Flynn ‘Human Scum’ After Charges Dropped

President Donald Trump praised former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Thursday after the Department of Justice dropped the case and accused FBI officials working on the prosecution of “treason” and “human scum.”

“He was an innocent man. He is a great gentleman,” Trump told reporters. “He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president.”

Flynn twice pleaded guilty to charges of lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 2017 interview about his contacts with a Russian ambassador. The arrest came in connection to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

The probe found that while Russia did interfere in the election, there was no clear collusion with Trump campaign officials.

Flynn’s lawyers argued that he was tricked into lying and subsequent counter-investigations have looked into if the entire Russia probe was politically motivated. An inspector general report found that there were problems within the investigation itself, but that it did not arise from a place of political bias.

The DOJ scrapped the case because it did not have enough relevancy to the overall Russia investigation.

Agents’ questioning “was untethered to, and unjustified by, the F.B.I.’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn,” the acting United States attorney in Washington, Timothy Shea, wrote in the motion to dismiss charges. “The government is not persuaded that the Jan. 24, 2017, interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis and therefore does not believe Mr. Flynn’s statements were material even if untrue.”

Trump said he hoped the “dishonest, crooked” prosecutors will pay a “big price” for drawing out the Flynn case.

“What they’ve done is a disgrace and I hope a big price is going to be paid,” Trump said. “A big price should be paid. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. What they did, what the Obama administration did, is unprecedented. It’s never happened. Never happened. A thing like this has never happened.”

He continued: “I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price because they’re dishonest, crooked people. They’re scum and I say it a lot, they’re scum, they’re human scum. This should never have happened in this country.”

Trump then alleged the arrest went as far as “treason.”

“The Obama administration Justice Department was a disgrace and they got caught,” he said. “They got caught. Very dishonest people. But much more than dis – it’s treason, it’s treason.”

“So I’m very happy for General Flynn,” Trump said about the dropping of charges. “He was a great warrior and he still is a great warrior. In my book, he’s an even greater warrior. What happened to him should never happen again and what happened to this presidency, to go through all of that and still do more than any president has ever done in the first three years. It’s pretty amazing when you think of it.”