Unsealed Flynn Doc: Trump Camp Floated Reaching Out To WikiLeaks In Oct 2016

Former US National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn arrives for his sentencing hearing at US District Court on December 18, 2018. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A court document partially unsealed Thursday revealed some of what special counsel Robert Mueller’s team told a federal judge back in December about former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s cooperation.

The filing revealed that Flynn had “relayed” to prosecutors “statements made in 2016 by senior campaign officials to which only a select few people were privy.”

“For example, the defendant recalled conversation with senior campaign officials after the release of the Podesta emails, during which the prospect of reaching out to WikiLeaks was discussed,” the unsealed document said, referring to the emails of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, which were leaked in October 2016.

The public version of the Mueller report goes into some detail about the discussions within the campaign and among its allies about WikiLeaks’ dissemination of Democratic emails hacked by Russia. However, much of that section is redacted. At least some of the redactions are believed to be related to Roger Stone’s case, where a judge has imposed a gag order.

The public version of the report included details of conversations between Jerome Corsi and Ted Malloch — two Trump allies who had no formal roles on the campaign — about the release of the Podesta emails. It also detailed Donald Trump Jr.’s communications with WikiLeaks over Twitter direct message in the days before and after the Podesta emails were released. Those messages had been made public well before Mueller’s report.

According to Mueller’s report, Trump Jr. sent an email to “variety of senior campaign staff” flagging for them a Twitter DM WikiLeaks sent him a few days before the Podesta emails were released.

The court document unsealed Thursday was filed back in December, before Flynn was set to be sentenced. The sentencing hearing took a dramatic turn however, when the judge railed against Flynn for a sentencing filing that seemed to cast doubt on his guilty plea, while expressing “disgust” and “disdain” with Flynn’s offense. Flynn got the judge’s permission to push back the sentencing until he was fully done cooperating with prosecutors.

The judge, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, unsealed the document, which still contains some redactions, on Thursday because the government had represented “that there no longer exists a compelling government interest to seal certain information in those records.”

Read the filing below:

Latest Muckraker

Notable Replies

  1. There is still so much we don’t know.

  2. Trump Jr. sent an email to “variety of senior campaign staff” flagging
    for them a Twitter DM WikiLeaks sent him a few days before the Podesta
    emails were released.

    Hopefully, this will be a subject of inquiry when he testifies before the Senate Intel Committee.

  3. The bottom line is all of this is regardless of what Trump campaign officials did, including Jr., they saw nothing wrong with interacting with anyone anywhere who could potentially hurt Hillary, even if their actions went against the interests of this country.

  4. “Trump Jr. sent an email to [a] ‘variety of senior campaign staff’ flagging for them a Twitter DM WikiLeaks sent him a few days before the Podesta emails were released.”

    My schaden freudeth over.

    Lock. Him. Up.

  5. “For example, the defendant recalled conversation with senior campaign officials after the release of the Podesta emails, during which the prospect of reaching out to WikiLeaks was discussed,

    1. Georgie P’s troubles started with something similar and 2)

    I’m waiting on someone to explain this away. #nonames #youknowthatpersonis

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

205 more replies

Participants

Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for cervantes Avatar for inversion Avatar for dont Avatar for sniffit Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for 2strange Avatar for lastroth Avatar for left_in_washington_state Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for darrtown Avatar for pshah Avatar for jonney_5 Avatar for daulphin Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for khyber900 Avatar for michaelryerson Avatar for zillacop Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for c_stedman Avatar for paul_lukasiak Avatar for Bri2k

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: