Fox legal analyst flattens right-wing attacks on the Mueller probe: Mike Flynn interview was ‘not entrapment’

Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano shot down the conservative talking point that disgraced national security adviser Mike Flynn was tricked into lying by FBI agents.

Flynn pleaded guilty to misleading investigators about his contacts with Russian officials, and he argued in court documents that FBI agents tricked him into lying about evidence they already had -- and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo agreed.

"The (Wall Street) Journal called it entrapment," Bartiromo said.

Former FBI director James Comey said agents were able to question Flynn because the White House was so chaotic under President Donald Trump -- but Napolitano said investigators' conduct fell short of entrapment.

"Though they trapped him, it's not entrapment," he said. "Entrapment is when you resist, you resist, you resist and they push and they push and they push."

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has also claimed Flynn was entrapped, and Trump apologist Alan Dershowitz has alleged FBI misconduct, which Bartiromo suggested could get Flynn's conviction overturned -- but Napolitano burst her bubble.

"Entrapment has legal meaning, it means overbearing somebody’s will," he said. "In other words, if somebody resists committing a crime, you try to persuade them, please and so on, and giving somebody the opportunity to commit a crime that he is otherwise inclined to commit is not entrapment."

Bartiromo claimed "insiders" say Flynn pleaded guilty because investigators were threatening his son, and because the retired U.S. Army general had run out of money paying legal fees.

“They did ruin him," Napolitano said, "but was there a legal basis for bringing a complaint about the son, I don’t know."

"Here’s the thing," he added. "His guilty plea was given under oath. If he retracts that, it’s perjury -- lying under oath. So he’s really in a bind right now."