Flynn’s fate (6)

The Special Counsel has filed his reply memo in the matter of the sentencing of Michael Flynn in compliance with Judge Sullivan’s order. I have embedded the memo and attachments as redacted below. Please take the following comments as provisional in nature and check my own comments against the document itself.

Reading these materials quickly this afternoon, I observe that the only document contemporaneous with the interview is one page of notes typed by Andrew McCabe documenting his arrangement of the interview with Flynn (Attachment A). The McCabe memo does not reach the substance of the interview that followed.

After the McCabe memo comes a heavily redacted FBI 302 summary of what appears to be an interview with Peter Strzok that included Strzok’s discussion of his January interview with Flynn. This interview is dated July 19, 2017 (Attachment B).

I see no contemporaneous notes or 302 of the FBI’s January interview with Flynn resulting in Flynn’s false statements plea. Despite Judge Sullivan’s order, they aren’t here. Where are they?

The reply memo of course makes much of Flynn’s sophistication in legal matters pertaining to his FBI interview. The interview was voluntary; he didn’t need to be warned not to make false statements. Yet by the same token Flynn must have known that his contact with Kislyak was recorded (see Attachment A). Why would Flynn lie about the substance of his contact with Kislyak?

Here the memo falls back on Flynn’s plea. Flynn acknowledges that he lied. My immediate reaction is that anyone seriously trying to understand what happened here will be frustrated by the threadbare and circular quality of the reply memo and attached materials.

SCO Flynn Reply Memo by Scott Johnson on Scribd

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