Judge Orders Release of Michael Flynn's Statements to Russian Ambassador

A federal judge on Thursday ordered prosecutors to make public the transcript of a phone call that former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was trying to conceal with a lie: his conversation with a Russian ambassador at the end of 2016.

US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington ordered the government to also provide a public transcript of November 2017 voicemail involving Flynn. During this sensitive appeal, President Trump's lawyer left a message to Flynn's lawyer to remind him of the President's attachment to Flynn at a time when Flynn was considering cooperating with federal investigators.

The transcripts, which the judge ordered to be published on the court's website no later than May 31, would reveal conversations at the center of two main lines of investigation by the special advocate Robert S. Mueller III on the interference from Russia in the elections of 2016. Until now, they have only been disclosed to the public as fragmentary in the judicial records and the Mueller report.

Sullivan also ordered that the still-drafted parts of the Mueller report relating to Flynn be forwarded to the court and made public.

Sullivan's orders were issued very shortly after government prosecutors decided to release certain sealed documents in the Flynn case. This publication followed a Washington Post court petition earlier this year that the public deserved to know more about Flynn's role in key events and cooperation with investigators.

Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to a charge of making a false statement to FBI investigators about his contact with the ambassador and awaiting the conviction.

The purpose of the phone calls and the motivations of the callers were hotly debated.

[Key findings from the Mueller report]

In the December 2016 appeal, Flynn urged the Kremlin not to be angry at US sanctions that President Barack Obama had just announced against Russia and to give Trump time to take office. This conversation, intercepted by the US intelligence services, raised serious concerns about the Russians' secret and frequent contacts with Trump's allies and advisers during the campaign and before his inauguration.

In the second conversation, a Trump lawyer tried to find out if Flynn had any problematic information about the president after his lawyer told his client that his client could start cooperating with the Mueller investigators. The lawyer was John Dowd, then the president's private attorney, according to people close to the episode. The special council then threatened to accuse Flynn of lying to FBI agents about his appeal to the ambassador. Dowd's voicemail was scrutinized as Mueller's investigators investigated whether the president had obstructed justice to try to thwart the investigation and whether he had deployed his aides to assist him.

In one of the redacted reports released Thursday, prosecutors said Flynn had described several episodes in which "he or his lawyers received communications from people related to the administration or Congress who could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the comprehensiveness of this cooperation ".

In addition to transcripts, it is also possible for the judge to publish the audio recordings of the conversations. In his order of Thursday, Sullivan had ordered the government to provide him with a copy of these records in his office, as well as any other appeal launched by Flynn to the Russians, so that he could consult them.

Dowd and current president's attorney, Jay Sekulow, declined to comment, as did a White House spokeswoman.

Robert Kelner, Flynn's lawyer, could not be reached for comment on Thursday night.

The newly sealed parts of the court records showed that Flynn was a source of useful information for the Special Advocates team in 2017 and 2018, helping to analyze the Trump campaign's efforts to obtain stolen emails and the question of whether Trump was seeking to interfere in the investigation. bearing on him.

The files confirm the questions that Flynn, a retired lieutenant-general and former military intelligence officer, helped federal prosecutors answer after his plea of ​​guilty. Flynn admitted in 2017 that he had tried to conceal the nature of his conversations with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and then began cooperating with Mueller's team to try to reduce and possibly avoid a prison sentence.

Flynn also provided the special advocate with information about the Trump campaign and its allies' efforts to search for stolen emails during the campaign after WikiLeaks began publishing internal Democratic correspondence in July 2016, according to archives. He also provided evidence of "multiple efforts" by Trump-related persons who might have influenced his willingness to cooperate with the probe, useful information while Mueller sought to ascertain whether the President was obstructing the probe. justice.

At the same time, Flynn helped federal prosecutors based in Alexandria, Virginia, who were preparing criminal proceedings against his former business partner, Bijan Kian, for working as an unregistered agent in Turkey. Kian pleaded not guilty to the charges. He should be tried in July and Flynn should be a crucial witness. for the government.

The new material takes up the findings of the Mueller report, but helps explain why prosecutors told Sullivan that they found Flynn's cooperation valuable. and recommended that he receive little or no time in prison.

[Prosecutors seek no prison time for Michael Flynn citing his ‘substantial assistance”]

In the end, Flynn decided to postpone his sentence when Sullivan was upset by Flynn's conduct and was inclined to sentence him to jail if he was not yet finished cooperating with him. government.

Mueller's team analyzed Dowd's appeal to Kelner and Flynn's allied efforts to obstruct justice, but ultimately determined that the evidence of Trump's intention was "not conclusive ". team, and concerns about solicitor-client privilege limited the special advocate investigation.

Mueller's team in particular noted that in November 2017 – after Flynn withdrew from its joint defense agreement with the president – Trump's "personal advice", Dowd, had left a voice message to Kelner, pushing him to give a "heads-up" if they had anything that involved the president. He added, "Remember what we have always said about the President and his feelings towards Flynn." At a later call, Kelner reiterated that he could not share information with Dowd. Dowd is indignant and said he thought the president would be very unhappy, the report said.

Trump seemed particularly eager to convey his affection for Flynn after Flynn had left the White House as a result of information reporting his calls with Kislyak. Reince Priebus, former Chief of Staff at the White House and former Deputy National Security Advisor, K.T. McFarland told the investigators that Trump had asked them to contact Flynn to monitor him and tell him to stay strong, according to Mueller's report.

Matt Zapotosky and Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.