U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered prosecutors to release key documents containing the government’s files and “memoranda” related to the FBI’s questioning of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn by Friday afternoon. This afternoon, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team did just that, with much of it heavily redacted.
As reported by Fox News , included in the documents are former FBI director’s Andrew McCabe’s notes that he made after speaking with Flynn in order to arrange his interview with the agency. The so-called “302” report states what Flynn told anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok, along with another agent, during a meeting at the White House.
The 302 report states that Strzok and the other agent “both had the impression at the time that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.” The report also says that there were several unnamed people within FBI headquarters that “later argued about the FBI’s decision to interview Flynn.”
Flynn’s interview with the FBI on January 24, 2017, has been marred in controversy, not least of all because of accusations just days ago that he was pushed by the FBI not to bring his legal counsel with him to the meeting at the White House. That interview ended up being the basis for Flynn’s guilty plea on charges of making false statements about his involvement in discussions with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December, 2016.
The meeting with Kislyak is said to have centered around “limiting the Russian government’s response to former President Barack Obama’s recently imposed sanctions for election meddling.” Shortly afterwards, Flynn was booted from the White House for misleading Vice President Mike Pence, along with other officials, about contracts with Kislyak.
Judge Sullivan, who overturned the conviction of former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens in 2008 following government misconduct coming to light, is now in the process of deliberating how he should sentence Flynn. The Flynn team has also been ordered to turn over all their documents that back up its assertions.
Flynn’s sentencing date has been set for December 18, but Sullivan will likely be focusing heavily on the documents he has received over the weekend, as he will technically have the power to toss both the interview with the FBI and Flynn’s guilty plea if he concludes that the FBI interfered with his right to have a lawyer present.
Flynn’s legal team has been arguing that the FBI deliberately did not inform their client that false statements made by him would constitute a crime.
Last weekend, former FBI Director James Comey said that it was him who decided to send two agents to the White House to question Flynn, and was open about it being an unusual arrangement, especially since the meeting was arranged directly with Flynn and not through the normal White House channels.
His words were that it was “something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more … organized administration.”
