Image 01 Image 03

Judge Demands Interviews With Flynn After Sentencing Memo Raises Questions About the FBI’s Conduct

Judge Demands Interviews With Flynn After Sentencing Memo Raises Questions About the FBI’s Conduct

The memo alleges FBI agents, including McCabe and Strzok, intentionally mislead Flynn during initial questioning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i83wPkcB-k

A sentencing memo released Tuesday night has thrown a kink in the investigation of Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

In the memo issued by Flynn’s attorneys are allegations that the FBI intentionally lied to Flynn about the necessity of having representation during their initial interview as well as an alleged effort to intentionally omit the consequences of lying to FBI agents during what was allegedly made out to be a casual conversation.

Involved in the initial conversations with Flynn were now Former Deputy Director McCabe and former FBI agent Strzok. Both agents have since been fired from the FBI for various improprieties.

From the WSJ:

Mr. Flynn’s filing doesn’t take issue with the description of his offense. But the “additional facts” the Flynn defense team flags for the court raise doubts about FBI conduct.

The Flynn filing describes government documents concerning the Jan. 24, 2017 meeting with two FBI agents when Mr. Flynn supposedly lied. It turns out the meeting was set up by then Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who personally called Mr. Flynn that day on other business—to discuss an FBI training session. By Mr. McCabe’s account, on that call he told Mr. Flynn he “felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down” with him to talk about his Russia communications.

Mr. McCabe then urged Mr. Flynn to meet without a lawyer present. “I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between [Mr. Flynn] and the agents only. I further stated that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House Counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the Department of Justice. [Mr. Flynn] stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants,” wrote Mr. McCabe in a memo viewed by the Flynn defense team.

According to the FBI summary of the interview—known as a 302—Mr. McCabe and FBI officials “decided the agents would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed and they were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the rapport.”

We also know from then FBI Director James Comey that this was his idea. This is “something I probably wouldn’t have done or wouldn’t have gotten away with in a more organized administration,” Mr. Comey boasted on MSNBC this weekend. “In the George W. Bush Administration or the Obama Administration, if the FBI wanted to send agents into the White House itself to interview a senior official, you would work through the White House counsel, there would be discussions and approvals and who would be there. And I thought, it’s early enough let’s just send a couple guys over.”

The key portion of the memo in full:

At 12:35 p.m. on January 24, 2017, the first Tuesday after the presidential inauguration, General Flynn received a phone call from then-Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, on a secure phone in his office in the West Wing.20 General Flynn had for many years been accustomed to working in cooperation with the FBI on matters of national security. He and Mr. McCabe briefly discussed a security training session the FBI had recently conducted at the White House before Mr. McCabe, by his own account, stated that he “felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down” with General Flynn to talk about his communications with Russian representatives.21

Mr. McCabe’s account states: “I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between [General Flynn] and the agents only. I further stated that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House Counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the Department of Justice. [General Flynn] stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants.”22

Less than two hours later, at 2:15 p.m., FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and a second FBI agent arrived at the White House to interview General Flynn.23 By the agents’ account, General Flynn was “relaxed and jocular” and offered to give the agents “a little tour” of the area around his West Wing office. 24 The agents did not provide General Flynn with a warning of the penalties for making a false statement under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 before, during, or after the interview. Prior to the FBI’s interview of General Flynn, Mr. McCabe and other FBI officials “decided the agents would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed, and they were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the rapport,” one of the agents reported.25 Before the interview, FBI officials had also decided that, if “Flynn said he did not remember something they knew he said, they would use the exact words Flynn used, . . . to try to refresh his recollection. If Flynn still would not confirm what he said, . . . they would not confront him or talk him through it.”26 One of the agents reported that General Flynn was “unguarded” during the interview and “clearly saw the FBI agents as allies.”27

Wednesday night, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered Mueller’s team to hand over documents germane to the revelations by mid-day Friday. From Sara Carter:

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office Wednesday night to turn over all the government’s documents by mid-day Friday. The exculpatory documents requested by Sullivan include any memorandums regarding Flynn’s case because of the extraordinary circumstances of the information, according to Sullivan’s request. Further, Sullivan is also requesting any documentation regarding the first interviews conducted by former anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok and FBI Agent Joe Pientka -known by the FBI as 302s- which were found to be dated more than seven months after the interviews were conducted on Jan. 24, 2017, a violation of FBI policy, say current and former FBI officials familiar with the process. According to information contained in Flynn’s memorandum, the interviews were dated Aug. 22, 2017.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jeff Danik told SaraACarter.com Sullivan must also request all the communications between the two agents, as well as their supervisors around the August 2017 time-frame in order to get a complete and accurate picture of what transpired. Danik, who is an expert in FBI policy, says it is imperative that Sullivan also request “the workflow chart, which would show one-hundred percent, when the 302s were created when they were sent to a supervisor and who approved them.”

“The bureau policy – the absolute FBI policy – is that the notes must be placed in the system in a 1-A file within five days of the interview,” said Danik, who added that handwritten notes get placed into the FBI Sentinel System, which is the FBI’s main record keeping system. “Anything beyond five business days is a problem, eight months is a disaster.”

“In a case of this magnitude there is no question what is going on,” said Danik. “These agents went in the White House and had a case with a possible witness of his stature and didn’t write it up until almost eight months later? That is is unconscionable – it’s not fair to the defendant and absolutely goes against FBI policy.”

Full sentencing memo here:

USA v. Michael Flynn – Defense Sentencing Memorandum by Legal Insurrection on Scribd

DONATE

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.

Comments

“Anything beyond five business days is a problem, eight months is a ” lie.

The word is “lie,” not “disaster.”

There have been reports that the two agents concluded that Flynn was not lying during this secret interrogation, and that some supervisory person reached another conclusion. This might explain how a conversation was converted into a secret interrogation, and why the 302 was prepared (or altered) many months later.

If this is true, some supervisory person should be disbarred.

    puhiawa in reply to Valerie. | December 13, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    It demonstrates with shocking clarity that Mueller is crooked.

      PersonofInterests in reply to puhiawa. | December 14, 2018 at 11:14 am

      It also shows that Big Jim Comey is a Conspirator to have knowingly and willingly set a perjusry trap for General Flynn that would support the obvious 2 year long Charade that the Trump Campaign and the Trump Administration was involved in any Russian Collusion whatsoever.

      Big Jim needs to be indicted, prosecuted, and punished hopefully in a prison where the doorway to his cell is 5’8″ to give him the chance to bang his head that sits on his 6’8″ tall frame and knock some sense into him everyday.

      What a bunch of lousty traitors and treasonists AND NOT ONE OF THEM HAS YET BE GIVEN THE JUSTICE THAT THEY RICHLY DESERVE. But the day is coming that We the People had better see justice from our Judicial System or may be disposed to deliver justice without it.

        4th armored div in reply to PersonofInterests. | December 14, 2018 at 12:40 pm

        well put – the Gestapo of the Deep State alongside the Klinton Krime Kommission need to be investigated, convicted amd locked up for the rest of their natural lives as an example to be remembered.

        #MAGA
        #KAG
        #NeverFoefet

        Mueller is a NeverTrumper and Comey’s BFF – he is not to trusted even to the point of his own innocence.

    dmi60ex in reply to Valerie. | December 14, 2018 at 9:38 am

    Two answers, McCabe or Mccabe according to which spellchecker you are using.

Of only the judge would be brave enough to declare this a witch hunt and absolve General Flynn

The FBI should not be allowed to submit as evidence “notes”, it’s time to demand that the wear recording devices, and that all parties are aware of it.

    Barry in reply to gonzotx. | December 13, 2018 at 11:56 pm

    The FBI “notes” are nothing more than lies. Case after case defendants are found guilty of lying to an agent because his “notes” say so.

    Scooter Libby. A dead man told the FBI according to his “notes”.

      oldgoat36 in reply to Barry. | December 14, 2018 at 7:23 am

      Seems far to convenient a tool the FIBs can use against a person they want to trap with something.

      Comey knew the Trump administration was new in politics, and wouldn’t be cautious about FIBs acting for politics and not justice.

    Bucky Barkingham in reply to gonzotx. | December 14, 2018 at 7:16 am

    The 302’s are not notes they are summaries written by agents based on notes they take at the interview. IIRC the notes are then destroyed. So – the notes are the agent’s interpretation of what he thinks he heard the interviewee say, and the 302 is the formal summary done later based on the notes and the agent’s recollection with whatever spin his boss tells him to pout on it.

    This is what passes for “justice” in the current Federal system.

I always had a hard time understanding how the NSDAP could intimidate an entire nation in 1930s Germany, but the practices of the FBI/DOJ show how it can be done even now but without killing very many people.

    Bisley in reply to villiewe. | December 14, 2018 at 10:57 am

    One of he most evil things government has done in recent times is to make it a criminal offense to lie to federal agents. I remember well when George W signed it into law, and could see the use it would be put to. This law needs to be repealed, unless they also want to make it a crime for them to lie to us.

Can you imagine anybody but the FBI or DOJ attempting to get an interview sheet in court that was drafted 7 months after the interview? The judge would not even wait for the objection before disallowing it. Judge Sullivan is correct. This has all the earmarks of a Miranda objection, a hearsay objection, and institutional corruption.

I hope this ends up with Flynn suing the government and he wins not restitution for the great harm Team Mueller has done to him, but also ends up putting several of these gangsters in prison for life.

    i can only thumb up this once. iou all the thumbs.

      Colonel Travis in reply to barnesto. | December 13, 2018 at 11:24 pm

      Agree. I am so frustrated and disgusted that the people who run this country, which was built on law and order, have turned to the very tyranny the colonies fought a war to escape.

      A statement that is sometimes misquoted, and one (or, at least one sentence taken from a series of letters) that is thrown around a lot, I hope not to the point that it becomes stale, but it is so damn correct:

      Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

      John Dalberg-Acton

    tom_swift in reply to Pasadena Phil. | December 13, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    It will take a lot more than a suit to put anybody in jail. For that, officialdom is going to have to start doing its job.

    Nice fantasy, but we all know no one associated with Mueller or in the top level of the FBI/DOJ is going to be prosecuted. It just doesn’t work that way.

      We’ll see. We are seeing a lot more evidence of high crimes and corruption being unearthed across the board as a by-product of Team Mueller’s witch hunt. It’s becoming a glaring liability to the entire uniparty as they ponder their re-election campaigns when leaks of payoffs from the Congressional slush fund begin to appear.

      I expect there will soon be bipartisan support for ending this investigation and putting a stop to any future witch hunts. A big part of this would be to prefer charges of corruption against Team Mueller. That will force the conversation front and center.

      The only such investigation based on investigating a crime was the Watergate investigation. The Clinton investigation began by targeting the Whitewater scandal and ended up with impeachment on a completely unrelated matter. And now with the glaringly obvious Trump investigation witchhunt begun on phony evidence, the time has come. Judge Sullivan may be just the guy to turn the tide.

I’m sure the Judge will not receive the originals, because the originals have long been destroyed.

It almost seems as if Flynn’s lawyer took a dive here. Maybe mueller really did threaten General Flynn with going after Flynn Jr. so the General completely tapped out. Whatever the case, Judge Sullivan is no stranger to government/law enforcement corruption. I think this 302 development is huge trouble for the doj/fbi. strzok is already going down, I’m curious to see what Pientka has to say.

    Barry in reply to CKYoung. | December 13, 2018 at 11:59 pm

    I have no doubt the general was threatened. That corrupt commie cabal of “investigators” will lie and break the law to get what they want. This has been proven in court, but they still continue.

    dmi60ex in reply to CKYoung. | December 14, 2018 at 11:21 am

    CK Young
    I was thinking they had Flynn over the barrel on the Turkish FARA and other things .
    I think he took this one , because it would be the least believable and even if the conviction stands , he will be able to bounce back because few believe it .
    Image means a lot.
    Mueller wanted this conviction because it advances the Russian narrative , where Turkey would not .I see some horse trading in all this .

It would appear the FIB and that POS Mueller have their collective teats in a wringer! The Judge better demand to see the 302’s that were supposed have been submitted within the the time frame stipulated by the FIB’s proceedures. Once he see’s how these corrupt bastards forged and changed the notes. He’ll have nothing left to do, but throw their seditious and treasonous asses in Leavenworth. I’d prefer to see the gallows personally!

    The FBI’s procedures are not federal rules of evidence. As long as they have a witness to Flynn’s crime testifying to his guilt – namely, General Flynn – the judge shouldn’t need anything else. The prosecution probably sees even asking for the 302’s as highly irregular. And it is.

    They’ve delayed this sentencing so many times and for so long to put off this day of reckoning.

      Barry in reply to JBourque. | December 14, 2018 at 1:52 pm

      ” the judge shouldn’t need anything else.”

      I disagree. It is the judges responsibility to see justice is done. If he believes in the possibility the prosecution has broken the law or improperly coerced the confession he has a right, and a responsibility to pursue.

Why does anybody trust 302s? They’re self-serving fiction, that’s why the FBI won’t allow third parties to record their interviews. They can’t allow contradictory evidence.

I saw an interview of a municipal police officer where he said it’s official department policy to record interviews, transcribe them, and then destroy the recordings. The appearance of corruption is blinding. If a private party did that it would be evidence tampering, and I can’t imagine any judge allowing the transcript into evidence. Those same judges suddenly become willfully blind when a cop does it.

    Milwaukee in reply to randian. | December 14, 2018 at 1:18 am

    I recall, back in the day, during the Troubles, when allegedly IRA terrorists were bombing away in England. The police would collect a supposed terrorist, and interview them, with a stenographer. The note taker would use a spiral notebook and a ballpoint pen. Then they notes were altered, and transcribed. The suspect would be presented the altered notes and the typed transcripts, and agree they matched, and sign away. The “confessions” were used for long sentences. THen some bright guy used a computer and examined the depressions in several layers of paper, and concluded tampering had gone on. The sentences based on false confessions were overturned. The police chief didn’t tell people not to alter confessions. Instead he told them to put a plastic sheet in the spiral notebook, to prevent depressions being made in the underlying sheets. Seems he learned the wrong leson.

As best that I can figure, Flynn lawyers cited that FBI agents didn’t warn the soon-to-be National Security Director that lying to a federal agent was against the law. But we must remember that all FBI interviews were subpoenaed, so Lord knows what other surprises may be in store for Flynn’s legal team.

FBI Assistant Director McCabe wrote a memo that same day that Pete Strzok and another agent conducted the Flynn interview, (which is probably what Sally Yates relied on when she suggested to the White House that Flynn needed to be fired), stating very clearly that the FBI agents recognized that Flynn had lied. The conundrum was that Flynn’s statements were inconsistent with recordings of the conversation that Flynn he had actually had with the ambassador.

And Flynn’s statement actually makes things worse for himself and, importantly, for one of the White House cover stories that his firing was immediately precipitated by Don McGahn confronting him with the transcript of his conversation with Kislyak. Flynn’s own sentencing memo makes it clear the FBI Agents were quoting directly from the transcript about what he said.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/13/on-emmet-sullivans-order-for-mike-flynns-302s-be-careful-what-you-ask-for/

    I’m interested in the facts, not long, long quotations of James Comey with the presumption that we should be relying upon him for dispassionate articulation of the truth.

    While perhaps deserving of several pages of text, I’ll limit myself to this. Flynn’s statements to agents, and his representations to the WH, being at odds with the recordings, is a fact. It is why he was fired. It is a matter of interpretation whether he poorly remembered the call he took from the Russian ambassador outside the country, or whether he lied purposefully. The agents could have felt Flynn believed he was telling the truth, even though Flynn was not. That makes Flynn sloppy and incompetent about something that would land him deep in debt and may still land him in a prison cell. It does not mean, for a cold, hard, objective fact, Flynn intended to lie. But he has admitted to that as a matter of law.

    If there’s nothing wrong with the documents, the Special Counsel will file them under seal, Flynn will be sentenced, and life will go on. Of course, I’ve already written here I expect the originals have been destroyed and only the summary exists. But as the honorable, meticulous and highly reputable Director Comey is quoted in your link as saying, absence of incriminating evidence does not mean that the evidence that is absent, was incriminating to the FBI. We’ll just have to take the FBI’s word for it, and the word of the man pleading guilty under the government’s weighty heel. Isn’t that enough?

      gwsjr425 in reply to JBourque. | December 14, 2018 at 7:09 am

      This entire comment as is your entire position up and down this thread is premised on ‘guilty until proven innocent”

        oldgoat36 in reply to gwsjr425. | December 14, 2018 at 7:40 am

        The trouble is Flynn plead guilty, so in his case it could be the assumption of guilt is from his own actions.

        Obama supposedly warned Trump not to hire Flynn, which is where some of this trouble starts. The recording used against Flynn is also likely tied up with Obama loosening the rules about sharing information. Obama weaponized the FBI against his political opponent. The FBI and CIA were used, as was the DOJ, as top officers there didn’t want Trump. This is part of the set up of the “insurance” Strzok spoke of.

        The whole thing with Flynn was a set up. It was a trap and Flynn fell into it. Obama boasted afterward that Trump was warned about Flynn. Yet, I wondered why the left cabal was so fearful of Flynn.

        Besides what oldgoat36 said, he pled guilty, how do you prove Flynn innocent “against his will” and ignoring his plea? With what evidence? I’ve made clear my belief that any original evidence that would indicate FBI misconduct has probably been destroyed. You can’t produce what you don’t have.

        Even if the judge threw out the plea, that only lands Flynn in the middle of Mueller going medieval on him. Even if the judge threw out the existing charges with prejudice, Mueller can go after Flynn for FARA violations (on behalf of Turkey), and finish the process of bankrupting him, purely out of spite. The judge would need to find clear prosecutor misconduct on top of those things. So I ask you, how likely is that?

        That and, I think you missed the biting sarcasm of my compliments to Comey. I don’t view him as a reliable authority on the truth and justice behind the Mueller case, I just don’t.

        But in the end, of course he’s guilty unless proven innocent – he pled guilty. I see no point prettying it up at this point. Flynn himself is the witness who establishes the 302 summary as true. How do you overcome that? Odds are, you don’t. No one does.

          Barry in reply to JBourque. | December 14, 2018 at 1:55 pm

          “The judge would need to find clear prosecutor misconduct on top of those things. So I ask you, how likely is that? “

          Barry in reply to JBourque. | December 14, 2018 at 1:58 pm

          “The judge would need to find clear prosecutor misconduct on top of those things. So I ask you, how likely is that?”

          Preety damn likely given the history of corruption by that corrupt commie cabal of “prosecutors”. Just look at it instead of turning a blind eye is about all anyone needs to do.

Lying to the FBI…. So if they ask me my favorite color and I tell them green but when they investigate I have never owned a green car or a green suit and most of my shirts are white or blue… I can be deemed to have lied to the FBI and go to jail. Horrible.

The FBI can lie and deceive you. They call it an interrogation technique but if you lie to them it is a crime.

regulus arcturus | December 14, 2018 at 8:42 am

One of the 302s was dated 6 months after the Flynn interview.

FBI guidelines require 302s to be complete within 5 days of interviews for to preserve accurate recollection by the agents involved.

This strongly suggests alteration and fraud.

It’s amusing to watch the down-votes from what I can only surmise are Mueller/Deep State apologists. Time to take the blinders off, kiddies.

4th armored div | December 14, 2018 at 12:41 pm

#NeverFoeget

CaliforniaJimbo | December 14, 2018 at 1:00 pm

I know that many within the FBI value tradition but it is 2018. ALL interviews should be taped / recorded (video and audio) and should remain as evidence just as 302’s. The 302 is the agents impression. Having that plus the raw intel (recordings) is what is needed.

Flynn and sessions – the dumb and dumber of the trump team.

So, I understand that, to my mild surprise, Mueller did file a 302 from January 2017 with Judge Sullivan. The judge can sort out the rest. It shouldn’t be complicated. Either way, Flynn apparently spoke at odds with the recording… I’m just agnostic on whether he set out to lie. Being a sloppy NSA isn’t something to compliment. Being a sloppy representative of your future President isn’t something to compliment.

It’s just, at this point, throwing out the guilty plea only destroys Flynn’s life further. So, I hope that for his sake the t’s are crossed and even McCabe didn’t mess this up beyond all recognition.

    Grrrr. I may have spoken too soon. The January 302 may not have been submitted after all… apologies if it turns out I read a confusing and mistaken report.