Special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday released a heavily redacted memo detailing former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s interview with FBI agents in which Flynn repeatedly lied about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The January 2017 memo describes FBI agents’ conversation with Flynn about his contacts with Mr. Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty last year to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Mr. Kislyak. He will be sentenced Tuesday.
Flynn repeatedly told the FBI agents, including former agent Peter Strzok, that he did not speak to Mr. Kislyak about U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia.
The memo says Flynn downplayed his interactions with Mr. Kislyak. He even told the agents that he had not sought to influence Russia on a United Nations Security Council Vote.
In the interview, Flynn deemphasized his interactions with Mr. Kislyak, offering bland descriptions of the conversations.
Flynn told the agents “not really” when asked if he told Mr. Kislyak not to escalate the diplomatic conflicts over sanctions with the U.S. In his guilty plea last year, Flynn admitted that he did, in fact, do so.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump wishes Michael Flynn ‘good luck’ before sentencing
“I don’t remember,” Flynn told the agents, but then later telling them, “It wasn’t ’don’t do anything,’ ” according to the memo.
The memo notes that Flynn said he didn’t have a “long drawn out” discussion with Mr. Kislyak where he would have asked him to “don’t do something.”
But Flynn had asked Mr. Kislayk to “refrain from escalating the situation” in response to sanctions imposed by the United States, prosecutors said.
Flynn said he only called officials of other countries to find out where they stood on a vote and not to offer any favors in exchange for a vote, according to the memo.
But Flynn had to be reminded that he that called Mr. Kislyak ahead of the vote.
“The interviewing agents asked Flynn if he recalled any discussions with Kislyak about a United Nations vote surrounding the issue of Israeli settlements. Flynn quickly responded, ’Yes, good reminder,’ ’’ according to the filing.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.