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Grassley Pushes Hard on the Mike Flynn Case

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On May 11, 2018, Chairman Grassley sent a letter to Deputy AG Rosenstein and FBI Director Wray regarding General Flynn.

This wasn’t the first time Grassley inquired regarding the Flynn case.

On February 15, 2017, Grassley requested a transcript of General Flynn’s call with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. That request was declined.

One year later, on February 28, 2018, Grassley sent another letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

There’s a large amount of valuable information contained within Grassley’s IG letter – covered here – but two specific questions are pertinent to this discussion:

Question 30) Who leaked to the press the presumably classified contents of the publicly reported call between the Russian ambassador and Michael Flynn? Has anyone been held accountable, and if not, why not?

This was a material felony leak of classified information.

Question 31) On January 24, 2017, before Lt. Gen. Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor, he was interviewed by FBI agents about phone calls he had with former Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. On December 1, 2017, Lt. Gen. Flynn pled guilty to lying to them. Recent news reports, however, state that former FBI Director Corney previously told congressional investigators that those agents neither believed that Lt. Gen. Flynn had lied, nor that “any inaccuracies in his answers were intentional.

Was the [General Flynn] interview conducted by the FBI agents on January 24, 2017 part of a criminal investigation or a counterintelligence investigation? Did the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. Gen. Flynn believe that he lied to them or intentionally misled them? Did the FBI agents document their interview with Lt. Gen. Flynn in one or more FD-302s? What were the FBI agents’ conclusions about Lt. Gen. Flynn’s truthfulness, as reflected in the FD-302s? Were the FD-302s ever edited? If so, by whom? At who’s direction? How many drafts were there? Are there material differences between the final draft and the initial draft(s) or the agent’s testimony about the interview?

What information did the FBI present to the DOJ regarding this interview, or any other investigative steps involving Lt. Gen. Flynn, and when? What, if anything, did the DOJ do with this information?

The implications put forth in Grassley’s IG letter seem clear.

Grassley believes there is reason to suspect 302’s pertaining to General Flynn’s FBI interview may have been altered (Form 302’s are used to summarize FBI interviews).

This would seem a logical explanation:

  • Reports indicated the FBI found no evidence of wrongdoing in Flynn’s actual call with the Russian Ambassador.
  • Comey testified that FBI Agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that Flynn had lied to them, or that any inaccuracies in his answers were intentional.
  • The House Intelligence Committee’s Final Report found FBI agents did not detect any deception during Flynn’s interview.

Consider the following dates and associated events:

  • December 29 2016 – General Michael Flynn speaks to the Russian Ambassador.
  • January 12 2017 – Mike Flynn’s Dec 29 2016 call is leaked to Washington Post. The article portrays Flynn as undermining Obama’s Russian sanctions.
  • January 19 2017 – The NYT reports that several agencies — the FBI, CIA, NSA and Treasury are monitoring several associates of the Trump campaign suspected of Russian ties.
  • January 19 2017 – Obama’s top intelligence and law-enforcement deputies meet to talk about Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak.
  • January 23 2017 – The FBI reports nothing unlawful in content of Flynn call.
  • January 24 2017 – Mike Flynn is interviewed without notice by the FBI. Peter Strzok is the interviewing agent.
  • January 25 2017 –  The Department of Justice receives a detailed briefing on Flynn from the FBI.
  • January 26 2017 – Sally Yates travels to the White House along with Mary McCord of the DOJ’s National Security Division to discuss Mike Flynn.
  • January 27 2016 – Sally Yates returns to the White House for a second discussion.
  • February 9 2017 – The NYT and the Post publish articles claiming that General Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Kislyak.
  • February 13 2017 – Mike Flynn resigns/fired as National Security Advisor.

Recall the FBI “failed to preserve” texts for the period between December 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017.

Inspector General Horowitz – not the FBI – would later recover them. The full set of Strzok/Page texts can be found here. The less redacted OIG version begins on page 119.

Two internet sleuths discovered something within these “recovered” Strzok texts:

The Conservative Treehouse put out a great article on the same topic.

Here are the series of Strzok/Page texts:

January 23, 2017 – Strzok: I can feel my heart beating harder, I’m so stressed about all the ways THIS has the potential to go fully off the rails.

January 23, 2017 – Page: I know. I just talked with John, we’re getting together as soon as I get in to finish that write up for Andy (Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe) this morning. I reminded John about how I told Bill (FBI Counterintelligence Head Bill Priestap) and the entire group that we should wait 30 to 60 days after the inauguration to change how we were managing this stuff. As it is, he went ahead, and everything is completely falling off the rails. I think our stuff is good on our cases, but I have no hope or understanding about what they’re doing on Jen’s side of the house.

John could be John Lynch – Chief, Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section or possibly Jonathan Moffa – FBI Agent copied on Comey’s Clinton exoneration letter.

Jen could be Jennifer Palmieri – Communications Director for the Clinton Campaign. Palmieri took lead in briefing the press on the Trump-Russia collusion story.

As  notes: Why would Page & Strzok be stressed about “THIS” potentially going off the rails if everything was by the book?

Take note of events occurring at the same time as these texts:

  • January 19 2017 – Obama’s top intelligence and law-enforcement deputies meet to talk about Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak.
  • January 23 2017 – The FBI reports nothing unlawful in content of Flynn call.
  • January 24 2017 – Mike Flynn is interviewed without notice by the FBI. Peter Strzok [& Joe Pientka – more shortly] is the interviewing agent.
  • January 25 2017 –  The Department of Justice receives a detailed briefing on Flynn from the FBI.

On January 23, 2017 Strzok notes: I can feel my heart beating harder, I’m so stressed about all the ways THIS has the potential to go fully off the rails.

On January 24, 2017, Strzok conducts an unplanned interview with General Flynn – who is at first unaware he is being interviewed.

On February 13, 2017, General Flynn resigned. The next day a very short series of texts between Page & Strzok occurs.

February 14, 2017 – Page: Also, is Andy (McCabe) good with F 302?

February 14, 2017 – Strzok: Launch on f 302.

F = Flynn.

Or Forged…Fake…Fraudulent…

Grassley closed his Rosenstein/Wray letter with this:

With Flynn’s plea, the investigation appears concluded. Additionally, while we are aware that the Special Counsel’s office has moved to delay Lt. General Flynn’s sentencing on several occasions, we presume that all related records already have been provided to the defense pursuant to Judge Sullivan’s February 16, 2018 order requiring production of all potentially exculpatory material.

Thus, although the case is not yet adjudicated, the Committee’s oversight interest in the underlying documents requested more than a year ago now outweighs any legitimate executive branch interest in withholding it.

So too does the Committee’s interest in learning the FBI agents’ actual assessments of their interview of Lt. Gen. Flynn, particularly given the apparent contradiction between what then-Directory Comey told us in March 2017 and what he now claims.

Accordingly, no later than May 25, 2018, please provide:

1. The information requested in our February 15, 2017 letter, including the transcripts of the reportedly intercepted calls and any FBI reports summarizing them; and

2. The FBI agents’ 302s memorializing their interview of Flynn and 1A supporting docs, including the agents’ notes.

In addition, please make Special Agent Joe Pientka available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff no later than one week following the production of the requested documents.

We knew there were at least two FBI Agents present at the Flynn Interview. We knew one of them was Peter Strzok.

Now it appears we know who the other FBI Agent was.

Joe Pientka.

Rule Number One for lawyers: Never ask a question unless you already know the answer.

Grassley almost certainly knows what Pientka is going to say. Because Pientka has probably already had some meaningful conversations with Inspector General Horowitz.

Transcribed on the record in person interview. And the 302s. McCabe and Strzok are about to get burned at the Stake & Flynn cleared,

Sure feels that way.

I don’t know much about Pientka yet. Stealth Jeff found this:

The FBI has awarded 13 agents who were assigned to Maryland and the District one of the agency’s highest honors for their roles in ending a 2007 standoff with a Prince George’s County man who had threatened an armed confrontation with U.S. Capitol police.

The agents honored for their part in ending the standoff were: Steven J. Binney, David L. Bonney, G. Joseph Bradley III, Jeffrey Cisar, Thomas E. Huegerich, Christopher Mayfield, Paul V. Miller, Kevin P. Murray (whose father accepted the award on his son’s behalf), Joe Pientka III, Michael E. Saltz, Jae B. Shim, Robert B. Tucker and Kevin Vorndran. Maryland State Police Capt. Mark R. Gibbons was also awarded the FBI Shield of Bravery.

One last thing. Here’s a sequence of events I’ve always found particularly telling.

On December 1, 2017, Judge Contreras presided over Flynn’s guilty plea.

Here’s what happened next:

  • December 2 2017 – Washington Post and New York Times reveal existence of incriminating messages from Peter Strzok revealing anti-Trump biases.
  • December 2 2017 – The Inspector General issues statement in response to inquiries.
  • December 4 2017 – CNN reveals Strzok changed wording of Clinton investigation to avoid criminal charges.
  • December 6 2017 – DOJ executive Bruce Ohr demoted after revelations he secretly met with Fusion GPS, which had secretly employed his wife Nellie.
  • December 7 2017 – Fox News reveals DOJ’s Bruce Ohr was in contact with Fusion GPS at the same time the FISA application was submitted and granted.
  • December 7 2017 – Morning. Rep. Jim Jordan grills FBI director Wray about FBI’s use of Dossier to secure FISA warrant. Demands to see FISA Application material.
  • December 7 2017 – Afternoon. Judge Contreras recused. Contreras is a FISA Judge.

All hell broke loose after General Flynn’s guilty plea.

Some well-placed White Hats reacted accordingly. Now, Senator Grassley is doing some reacting of his own.

It’s my firm belief that Michael Flynn will be exonerated when all is said and done. For more on the Flynn Case see: Something Rotten in Denmark – The Michael Flynn Case.

Note: We now know Judge Contreras did not sign a FISA Warrant or Application – per Schiff’s Democrat Memo which specifies that Page FISA Application and renewals were approved by four different Federal (FISA) Judges and appointed by the following: One by Reagan. One by G.H.W. Bush (elder). Two by G.W. Bush (younger).

Contreras was appointed by Obama.

Anne Conway signed a Page FISA Application or Renewal. Nominated by George H.W. Bush.

Either Raymond Drearie or Martin Feldman (FISA Court 5-19-10 to 5-18-17) signed a FISA Application or Renewal. Nominated by President Reagan.

Two of the following signed a FISA Application or renewal: Collyer, Egan, Kugler, Mosman, Saylor. Nominated by G.W. Bush.

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