Special counsel Robert Mueller released the January 2017 FBI memo that described the interview where former national security adviser Michael Flynn described his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for lying to the FBI about a conversation with Kislyak during the transition.
According to the memo, the interviewing agents asked Flynn if he remembered any conversations with Kislyak about the United Nations vote surrounding Israeli settlements. Flynn quickly responded “yes, good reminder” and told the interviewers a number of countries he met with, including “maybe Russia/KISLYAK.”
The document says the interviewers asked Flynn if he asked Russia to vote a certaicopmvn way at the U.N., and he answered “no.” “Flynn stated the conversations were along the lines of where do you stand, and what’s your position,” the memo said.
But court documents released last year said a “very senior member” of the Trump transition team in December 2016 directed Flynn to contact Russia and officials from other foreign governments to determine where they stood on an Israeli settlement U.N. resolution, influence those governments and delay the vote or defeat the resolution.
On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller submitted material regarding the former national security adviser’s questioning by the FBI. That filing included a redacted copy of Flynn’s interview. It’s not clear whether there will be another version with fewer redactions released. Flynn’s attorneys had complained that the FBI agents who questioned him had not warned him that lying to the FBI was a crime.
“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI on January 24,” the special counsel wrote in its response on Friday.
“A sitting National Security Advisor, former head of an intelligence agency, retired Lieutenant General, and 33-year veteran of the armed forces knows he should not lie to federal agents. He does not need to be warned it is a crime to lie to federal agents to know the importance of telling them the truth,” the memo said.
