Michael Flynn Discussed Sanctions With Russian Ambassador, Declassified Transcripts Confirm

TOPLINE

In a December 2016 phone call, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, asked Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak to tell his government to take "reciprocal" action to President Obama's sanctions for interference in the 2016 presidential election rather than escalate the situation, according to declassified transcripts of the conversation.

KEY FACTS

Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Kislyak, but Flynn’s since attempted to withdraw the plea, with attorney general William Barr's Justice Department moving to drop the case in May.

In the transcript of the Dec. 29 call, Flynn urged the Russian government make its response to sanctions from the outgoing Obama administration "reciprocal" and to not "go any further than you have to, because I don't want us to get into something that has to escalate, on, you know, on a tit for tat."

Regarding any expulsion of U.S. diplomats from Russia as retaliation, Flynn asked that Moscow keep it "even-keeled, and then what we can do is, when we come in, we can then have a better conversation about where, where we're gonna go...regarding our relationship."

In a Dec. 31 call, in discussing the "counter-action" made by Russia, Kislyak said, "I just wanted to tell you that our conversation was also taken into account in Moscow...your proposal that we need to act with cold heads, uh, is exactly is, uh, invested in the decision."

According to notes of the FBI's January 2017 meeting with Flynn, which stemmed out of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he was asked if he'd encouraged Kislyak to not escalate the situation and not engage in a "tit-for-tat," to which Flynn responded "Not really, I don't remember, It wasn't, 'Don't do anything.'"

John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in as the new Director of National Intelligence on Monday, announced late on Friday he would release the transcripts, after former acting Richard Grenell declassified them.

Crucial Quote

House Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee: "These transcripts clearly demonstrate that Lt. General Michael Flynn lied to the FBI and the Vice President when he denied discussing sanctions in a then-secret set of conversations with the Russian Ambassador...It should be no surprise that the President and his allies wish to promote conspiracy theories."

Key Background

The ongoing situation around Flynn—including a document that revealed 39 officials requested identities in transcripts of wiretapped conversations in late 2016 be "unmasked"—has been seized upon by the Trump administration as evidence of perceived corruption on the part of the Obama administration. The administration accused Obama officials like Vice President Joe Biden of targeting Flynn with the unmasking requests, but it was later confirmed that Flynn's name in the Kislyak conversations were never redacted. While the Trump administration called the investigation improper, in April, the Senate Intelligence Committee, at the time chaired by Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) affirmed the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia attempted to swing the 2016 election in Trump's favor.