by WorldTribune Staff, December 13, 2018
Then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe pressed Michael Flynn to meet with FBI agents without an attorney present as it would be the “quickest” way to complete the meeting, Flynn’s lawyers revealed in a Dec. 11 court filing.
Flynn agreed and said he did not need to involve White House lawyers.
McCabe wrote in a memo that he and other FBI officials decided before the Jan. 24, 2017 meeting that Flynn would not be warned ahead of the interview about the penalties of lying to the agents, one of whom was Peter Strzok.
McCabe noted that “they wanted Flynn to be relaxed” and “were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the rapport.”
The meeting with the FBI was held just days into Flynn’s tenure as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.
In the court filing, attorneys for Flynn noted the he cooperated with the special counsel’s probe “even when circumstances later came to light that prompted extensive public debate about the investigation of General Flynn.”
The lawyers appear to have been referencing McCabe and Strzok.
Both McCabe and Strzok have been fired from the FBI – McCabe for making false statements of about authorizing contacts with the media and Strzok for exchanging anti-Trump text messages with his mistress, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said he wants to review FBI documents from the meeting before he sentences Flynn next week.
Judge Sullivan also ordered special counsel Robert Mueller’s office to hand over any other memos or interview notes relevant to Flynn’s interview.
The judge set a Dec. 14 deadline to turn over the documents. He will decide on Flynn’s sentence on Dec. 17.
Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017 to lying to the FBI agents regarding his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.
Since both the special counsel’s office and Flynn’s legal team recommended no jail time for the former national security adviser, it is unlikely that the judge’s review of the FBI documents will change his sentencing decision.
President Donald Trump tweeted: “WITCH HUNT!. They gave General Flynn a great deal because they were embarrassed by the way he was treated – the FBI said he didn’t lie and they overrode the FBI. They want to scare everybody into making up stories that are not true by catching them in the smallest of misstatements. Sad!……”
There is a chance that the documents could be filed in public view, but that is also seen as a long shot as Sullivan said that he would allow Flynn’s team and the special counsel to file the documents under seal if they chose to.
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