TABLES TURNED: Judge Orders Special Counsel Robert Mueller To Hand Over Documents

The tables have been turned on nobody. Mueller has just released the court-requested documents.

December 14, 2018 — Special counsel slams Michael Flynn’s criticism of FBI interview

Washington (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team on Friday slammed a suggestion by Michael Flynn’s lawyers last week that President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser lied to the FBI not even a month into his tenure because he was caught off guard when two agents approached him.

However, Mueller’s office said it would not change its recommendation that Flynn receive no jail time, given he has accepted responsibility for his actions and cooperated with the special counsel.

Mueller on Friday also released memos written by the FBI agents, and emphasized that when Flynn lied to them on January 24, 2017, about the substance of his policy conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he had already lied to several members of Trump’s team and was “committed to his false story” that he and Kislyak did not discuss sanctions.
Flynn later said he had lied, and will be sentenced next week.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

@Greg:

However, Mueller’s office said it would not change its recommendation that Flynn receive no jail time, given he has accepted responsibility for his actions and cooperated with the special counsel.

No, Mueller wants Gen. Flynn to fade away into the darkness. How the General was treated and what Mueller got out of it is an embarrassment. I hope the Judge demands an explanation as to why so much reliance was put on a 302 cobbled together 7 months later… or what happened to the original.

Basically, we are left with Mueller’s word that Gen. Flynn lied. Penning a description of the interview 7 months later is a travesty. Gen. Flynn should be cleared immediately and Mueller indicted for obstruction of justice.

@Greg: He plead guilty after he was bankrupted and Mueller was threatening his family. What do YOU not understand about THAT? Kommrad Mueller is following the Soviet playbook; show him the man and he’ll show us the “crime”.

Gen. Flynn provided nothing against Trump; why recommend leniency for a “liar”? The persecution of the General is turning into a massive liability. I hope the General cleans Mueller out.

@Greg: Obama destroyed the faith and confidence of blind justice in America. He turned the DOJ and FBI into muscle for the Democrat party. It is crystal clear that there is NOTHING but lies shoring up this “investigation”.

I don’t think they ever had to lie, falsify evidence and suppress facts to convict real criminals. Garbage like Mueller only have to do that when they have a mission to destroy someone but don’t have the evidence to do it.

@kitt: This is probably just one of the reasons Mueller is trying to quietly bury the Gen. Flynn case. Beyond any doubt, this is a sleazy operation.

@kitt, #9:

The 302 written months later may not consist of notes about the earlier interview with Flynn recorded by the agents. It appears instead to relate to a much later interview of the agents themselves.

December 13, 2018 — New FBI 302 Document Appears to Reveal Interview With Agents—Not Flynn

The Michael Flynn memorandum in aid of sentencing was filed on Dec. 11, following the long-awaited Dec. 5 sentencing memorandum filed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

As previously noted, Mueller recommended no jail time for Flynn, noting his “substantial cooperation and other considerations.”

There were several items of note within the newly released documents.

Perhaps getting the most attention is footnote 23, contained on page 9 of the document:

“23 FD-302 dated Aug. 22, 2017, at 3.”

FD-302 refers to a type of FBI form that is a written summation of an interview.

The footnote in question relates to the following sentence:

“Less than two hours later, at 2:15 p.m., FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and a second FBI agent arrived at the White House to interview General Flynn.23”

This sentence, combined with the footnote, have been construed to mean that an additional FD-302 was constructed for the FBI’s meeting with Flynn—nearly seven months after Flynn’s Jan. 24, 2017, interview.

This widely-held take does not appear to be correct.

To understand why, one needs to keep reading and note that each referenced footnote (24-27) relates to the same Aug. 22, 2017, Form FD-302:

“By the agents’ account, General Flynn was “relaxed and jocular” and offered to give the agents “a little tour” of the area around his West Wing office.24”

This sentence provides the first big hint, “By the agents’ account,” but is not definitive.

“The agents did not provide General Flynn with a warning of the penalties for making a false statement under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 before, during, or after the interview. Prior to the FBI’s interview of General Flynn, Mr. McCabe and other FBI officials “decided the agents would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed, and they were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the rapport,” one of the agents reported.25”

Here we are provided perhaps our most telling clue: “one of the agents reported.” This seems to imply that who was interviewed in this 302 was not General Flynn, but rather the FBI agents who had prior conducted the Flynn interview. The identities of those agents are Strzok and Joe Pientka (first hinted at in a May 11, 2018 letter from Sen. Charles Grassley).

“Before the interview, FBI officials had also decided that, if “Flynn said he did not remember something they knew he said, they would use the exact words Flynn used, … to try to refresh his recollection. If Flynn still would not confirm what he said, … they would not confront him or talk him through it.”26”

As one continues reading the quotes from the FD-302 provided by Flynn’s team, one can see that they are quotes by FBI agents describing events before, during, and after the Flynn interview to an unknown FBI official.

“One of the agents reported that General Flynn was “unguarded” during the interview and “clearly saw the FBI agents as allies.”27”

Because this interview of Strzok and Pientka comes to us from a FD-302, the person doing the interviewing must be someone within the FBI. To my knowledge, this would not preclude others, such as Inspector General MIchael Horowitz or Mueller from also being present, although it’s entirely possible that FBI regulations preclude outside participation.

Either way, it appears that the current explanation that footnote 23 refers to Flynn’s interview summary compiled seven months after Flynn’s initial interview, is, in fact, incorrect. This is being acknowledged by certain internet detectives on Twitter, but is not the currently prevailing view.

Equally important is the fact that the two agents who interviewed Flynn were required to give their account of events in a formalized setting where, like Flynn, they could be charged with lying to the FBI…

@Deplorable Me: Being the inquisition was with such a high profile person you would think these procedures would be followed to the letter with all eyes dotted and tees crossed. Seems the eyes were crossed and they might have been dotted after a 2 hour lunch.

General Flynn plead guilty because he was financially waterboarded and his family was threatened with more financial woes.

The government can outspend just about anyone and when they turn those screws, how can anyone afford not to give in?

TABLES TURNED: Judge Orders Special Counsel Robert Mueller To Hand Over Documents

I guess that bombshell turned out to be a dud.

January 4, 2019 — Mueller grand jury extended for up to 6 months

The extension is the surest sign yet that the Russia investigation isn’t finished. It means, broadly, that Mueller may continue pursuing alleged criminal activity related to the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and that more indictments may be coming.

No surprise there.

@Deplorable Me:
Let’s go back a few years.

Remember Plamegame? Remember how the left wing press ranted and raved that Dick Cheney had “outed” Valerie Plame? When that didn’t work out, remember all the left wing taking heads bloviated how Karl Rove was going to be “frogmarched” out of the White House for outing Plame? Oooops.

In the end, it was revealed that Plame was NOT covered under the protections for undercover agents (she had timed out) and that it was really Richard Armitage who had outed Plame to Novak? In the end, all that was done was the railroading of Scooter Libby, ala Flynn.

Here is an interesting article on the players in the Plamegame. The more things change, the more they are the same.