Sally Yates says Comey went rogue by sending agents to interview Flynn

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Washington Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who served in the upper ranks of the Justice Department during the FBIs investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, told lawmakers Wednesday that former FBI Director James Comey went rogue when he "unilaterally" dispatched agents to interview former national security adviser Michael Flynn at the White House in the early days of the Trump administration. In an exchange with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham during a hearing on the FBIs "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, Yates was asked whether she authorized the FBIs January 24, 2017, interview of Flynn. "I didnt authorize that interview because I wasnt told about it in advance," Yates, who appeared remotely, told lawmakers. Yates said that when she heard about the FBIs interview with Flynn, "I was upset that Director Comey didnt coordinate this with us and acted unilaterally. " Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, asked whether Comey went "rogue" with sending agents to speak with Flynn, and Yates responded, "You could use that term, yes. "But Yates defended the FBIs basis for conducting its interview with Flynn, who was under scrutiny for conversations he had with then-Russian ambassador to the U. S. Sergey Kislyak after the November 2016 election. Flynn was ultimately fired from his post as national security adviser in February 2017 for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Kislyak. "Interviewing General Flynn was really right at the core of the FBIs investigation at this point to try to discern, what are the ties between the Trump administration and the Russians?" she said, adding that there was a "risk" Flynn would be compromised. Yates instead favored bringing the information about Flynns contacts with Kislyak directly to the White House. "The conversations themselves were concerning and that was a proper basis to be part of the counterintelligence investigation but