Flynn coordinated Russia call with senior transition official, prosecutors say

The Hill ^ | December 1, 2017 | Katie Bo Williams

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Former national security advisor Michael Flynn spoke with a "senior official" in President’s Trump's transition team at the Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what he should communicate to the Russian ambassador in a highly-scrutinized series of phone calls in December of 2016, according to federal prosecutors.

Flynn and the senior officials discussed both the recently implemented U.S. sanctions on Russia, as well as the fact that they did not want Russia to escalate friction between the two nations, lawyers on special counsel Robert Mueller's team told a federal judge Friday.  

After the discussion, Flynn telephoned the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Afterwards, he called the senior transition official and reported the sanctions discussion, prosecutors said. 

Kislyak later followed up with Flynn and affirmed that Russia would moderate its response to the sanctions, put in place by then-President Obama. Flynn communicated that exchange to other transition officials, prosecutors said.  

Flynn on Friday pleaded guilty to one count of providing false statements to federal investigators, thereby admitting to the charges made by Mueller's prosecutors. 

According to court documents filed by Mueller, Flynn lied when he told investigators that he did not ask Kislyak to "refrain from escalating the situation" in response to sanctions that Obama had levied on the Russian Federation. 

Flynn also lied, the counsel said, when Flynn said he did not ask the ambassador to either delay or defeat a related U.N. Security Council vote.   Prosecutors told Judge Rudolph Contreras that Flynn was told by the senior member of Trump transition team to reach out to other countries to influence the U.N. vote, in an effort to delay or defeat the resolution.

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So this does not have to do with collusion with Russia prior to the election. It has to do with that phone call that happened with the Russian ambassador. Obama slapped those last minute sanctions on because he knew that would hamper Trump in his ability to build a better relationship with Russia. My belief is that Flynn didn't want them to retaliate against the U.S. in response to those sanctions. The bottom line, though, is that Russia's nonresponse led the Obama Administration to unmask Flynn's calls because they wanted to see if he said something. Who was this official, and why didn't they just tell them to keep quiet, let the country see the fallout from Obama's sanctions, and have Trump deal with it when he got in office? Why didn't Flynn just fess up from the start or stay quiet? He's smart enough to know you can't lie to the FBI.

Asking seriously - will this be a problem because it appeared the Administration didn't know until Yates told them? Pence didn't know. When it came out public, they fired him. The New York Times said at the time that the transcript was vague enough that Trump could have justified not firing him if he wanted. I wonder why they didn't just fess up and let them try to Logan Act him. It had only been used once in history - that likely would have gone nowhere. That would have avoided this if they were honest.

[caligatrux]

This is just ridiculous.

[Alberta's Child]

Think about what they're alleging here:

The Trump transition team reached out to Russian officials and asked the Russian government -- apparently successfully -- NOT to respond in a strong, adversarial manner against the U.S. for the sanctions that the Obama administration had imposed.

Is it just me, or does this sound like a tremendous diplomatic accomplishment?

[hcmama]

No collusion. It was BS all along. What Mueller is apparently building a case around is the criminalization of US foreign policy.

[JustTheTruth]

December, 2016 = AFTER the election...

[kabar]

What is wrong with the transition team talking to the Russians? It is not a crime.

[blackdog]

50 Clintonista lawyers and a $100 million budget and growing.

Someone is going to be charged. It really is irrelevant on what for? It just must be done.

[Adder]

highly-scrutinized series of phone calls in December of 2016

So after the election...when such contacts SHOULD have been made....

a big nothing burger....

pack it up Mueller...go home.

[Vaduz]

Indeed the only crime done was Flynn lied end of event.

[ClearCase_guy]

December 2016? I hope these phones calls didn’t affect the election outcome. [/s]

[Westbrook]

> Is it just me, or does this sound like a tremendous
> diplomatic accomplishment?

It is a tremendous diplomatic accomplishment for which the 0bamanoids do NOT want Trump to get the credit.

[caligatrux]

Is it just me, or does this sound like a tremendous diplomatic accomplishment?

If this had been Hillary instead of Trump, the media would be trumpeting her as having saved the entire world from the brink of nuclear armageddon.

[dirtboy]

IMO the important question not being asked is how the FBI came to know that Flynn was lying about what was discussed on a phone call with the Russian ambassador?

[DFG]

Teddy Kennedy meddled with the Russians in the 1984 election. Nothing said about that.

[mojito]

So shocking. I mean really. The guy who was going to be named as the National Security Adviser had meetings with Russian officials in December, and talked with other Trump transition people about those meetings!

Wow. My mind is blown. Crime of the century.

This idiocy will last a few hours until somebody looks up what kind of contacts the 0bama people had with the Russians during Barry's transition period.

[Lurker]

The moral of the story is: Never say anything to the FBI. Not even with a lawyer present.

Ever.

L

[faithhopecharity]

there does not appear to be anything wrong with what he did

ps: when will Mueller start prosecuting SorozNazi, HilLIARy, Obama or whatever his real Arabic name is, and DebbieWasherwoman?

this Flynn stuff is both trivial and inane, a diversion from what needs to be done

[robroys woman]

I’m trying to figure out, other than him lying about what he said, what exactly was illegal or wrong.

It’s kinda like saying, “flynn admits to lying when he said he had a hard boiled egg for breakfast and now admits it was really a soft boiled egg.”

[WKUHilltopper]

How retarded. So, a president-elect isn’t allowed to have discussions with foreign governments? Pelosi met with Russians, what, 36 times?

I’m sick of these Mueller, Comey, Clinton and DNC traitors to the Republic.

[Alberta's Child]

Not only was it after the election. It was after the December 19th Electoral College vote that officially established Donald J. Trump as the next President of the United States.

This is not a minor point, either.