Newly released Flynn-Kislyak transcripts show no misconduct

By WND Staff

Michael Flynn (Courtesy Gage Skidmore)

Declassified transcripts of key phone conversations between Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak released Friday afternoon show no misconduct by President Trump’s then-incoming national security adviser.

Instead, the conversations at the center of the FBI probe that led to Flynn pleading guilty to lying to agents show the lieutenant general de-escalating tensions between Moscow and the Obama administration.

The transcripts were delivered Friday to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., by the new director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe. Grassley first requested the transcripts in February 2017 when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Read the transcripts

Flynn urged the Russian ambassador in a Dec, 29, 2016, call to take “reciprocal” actions in response to Obama administration sanctions for election interference, noted Politico, rather than escalating the situation into a “tit for tat.”

“You might appreciate the sentiments that are raging in Moscow,” Kislyak replied.

“I know, I — believe me, I do appreciate it, I very much appreciate it,” Flynn responded. “But I really don’t want us to get into a situation where we’re going, you know, where we do this and then you do something bigger, and then you know, everybody’s got to go back and forth and everybody’s got to be the tough guy here, you know?”

Politico reported that the next day, President-elect Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for declining to retaliate, tweeting: “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!”

In a follow-up call two days later, Kislyak said Putin chose not to escalate the sanctions battle because of his talk with Flynn, despite “raging” feelings in Moscow.

Following the unsealing of evidence confirming Flynn’s claim that he was set up in a “perjury trap,” the Justice Department filed a motion to drop the case. However, the presiding judge has refused to sign the order and instead has appointed a judge to carry on the prosecution in place of the Justice Department.

In a statement upon release of the documents, Ratcliffe said “transparency is vital to allowing the American people to have confidence in the Intelligence Community.”

 

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton confirmed in an interview Friday with Fox Business that the transcripts vindicate Flynn.

“Well, no wonder they’ve been hiding them so long, because they show not only that Flynn didn’t commit misconduct, but that he should get another medal,” Fitton told Lou Dobbs.

He said the transcripts are evidence of a “crime,” the Obama administration’s spying on a Trump official without warrant.

“They should have turned the tapes off as they were listening to Kislyak, as soon as he started talking to Flynn,” Fitton said. “They had no business monitoring the communications of the Trump campaign.”

He noted further that the FBI sought to end the case against Flynn a short time later, on Jan. 4, because they concluded had no evidence against him.

“Yet they ambushed him,” he said, referring to the surprise interview at the White House engineered by lead investigator Peter Strzok, “and they tried to put him in jail based on false pretences.”

“It is a scandal beyond measure, ” Fitton said.

See the interview:

‘There is a common threat that we face’

In a Dec. 22, 2016, call Flynn and Kislyak discussed working together toward “stability in the Middle East.”

“That’s the strategic goal,” Flynn said. “You know, between Moscow and Washington, we will not achieve stability in the Middle East without working with each other against this radical Islamist crowd. Period.

“I am very adamant about that, and I want to make sure that you know that and in the conversations that we’ll have in the future … if there is a common threat that we face.”

Kislyak said he agreed, and they wished each other a Merry Christmas, closing with an open invitation to call each other any time.

Flynn said at one point to Kislyak: “Remember Ambassador, you are not talking to a diplomat; you are talking to a soldier. I am a very practical guy. It is all about solutions.”

Flynn was fired as national security adviser in February 2017 after he was accused of misleading Vice President Pence and other senior White House officials about his communications with Kislyak.

FBI Director Wray launched an internal review of the Flynn investigation last week. In February, Attorney General Bill Barr appointed U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen to investigate the Flynn probe. Sources told Fox News that Jensen is now working alongside U.S. Attorney John Durham in his review of the origins of the Russia investigation.

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