Special counsel Robert Mueller released a memo late Monday summarizing the FBI’s January 2017 interview with President Donald Trump’s then-national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
In the interview, Flynn, who was also a senior adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, lied about his conversations with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for lying to the FBI.
The memo was made public after U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued an order requiring prosecutors to release the document, citing “the strong public presumption in favor of public access to judicial records.”
The document shows two clear examples of Flynn lying to federal agents.
His first lie was telling the FBI that “no,” he had not sought to influence a Russian United Nations vote regarding Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“The interviewing agents asked Flynn if he made any comment to Kislyak about voting in a certain manner or slowing down the vote … Flynn answered, ‘No,’” the memo said.
Flynn later admitted to asking Kislyak to either delay or oppose the vote.
Per the memo, Flynn also lied about conversations with Kislyak regarding sanctions imposed by the Obama administration on Russia.
When asked whether Flynn had urged the ambassador to not escalate tensions between the two countries over the sanctions, “Flynn responded, ‘Not really. I don’t remember.’ It wasn’t, ‘Don’t do anything,’” the memo said.
Flynn later acknowledged that he had asked Russia not to retaliate over the sanctions ― something the country agreed to do.
Flynn, a retired Army general, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian government representatives.
He faces up to six months in prison for the felony offense. But Mueller, who is leading the Trump-Russia probe, has recommended that Flynn receive little or no prison time because of his cooperation with the investigation.
Read the memo here:
This post has been updated with more information about the memo.