Were Events Surrounding Flynn’s Moscow Visit Intentionally Misframed?
News Analysis
Gen. Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, was interviewed on Jan. 24, 2017, by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka about two December 2016 conversations that Flynn had with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Details of the phone conversation had leaked to the media. Flynn ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI regarding his conversations with Kislyak. It remains unknown to this day who leaked Flynn’s classified call—a far more serious felony violation .
The Washington Post reported in January 2017 that the FBI had found no evidence of wrongdoing in Flynn’s actual call with the Russian ambassador. The call, and the matters discussed in it, broke no laws. Why Flynn would lie to the FBI agents about a perfectly legal call isn’t immediately clear.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted in a May 15, 2018, letter that “Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn, ‘saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying.’ Our own Committee staff notes indicate that Mr. Comey said the ‘agents saw no change in his demeanor or tone that would say he was being untruthful.’”
Flynn has been portrayed in the media as being suspiciously close to Russia; frequently cited as evidence is a dinner in Moscow that occurred in late 2015.
On Dec. 10, 2015, Flynn attended a dinner in Moscow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Russian television network RT.
Flynn, who was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the culminating dinner, was also interviewed on national security matters by an RT correspondent. Flynn’s speaker’s bureau, Leading Authorities Inc., was paid $45,000 for the event and Flynn received $33,000 of the total amount.
Seated at the same table with Flynn was Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate in the 2016 election. By all accounts, including Stein’s, Flynn and Putin didn’t engage in any real conversation .
At the time, Flynn’s trip didn’t garner significant attention. But it would later be used by media and the Clinton campaign to push the Russian collusion narrative.
It was reported that Flynn joined the Trump campaign in late February 2016 as an informal adviser on foreign policy matters—approximately two months after his dinner in Moscow—although his actual start date isn’t entirely clear.
Flynn’s trip to Russia was first brought to larger attention on July 18, 2016, during a live interview at the Republican National Convention with Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff:
Isikoff: You flew over to Moscow to participate in the 10th anniversary—a celebration of RT—Russian television, a propaganda arm of the Russian government. And you sat next to Vladimir Putin at a celebratory dinner. Why did you attend that event?
Flynn:
Because I wanted to tell Russia to get Iran the hell out of the four proxy wars that they’re involved in in the Middle East in order for us to settle the situation down … my intent for speaking at that event—and they allowed me to do it—was to talk about Russia’s influence over Iran and to essentially tell Russia that they have got to get Iran out of the situations they are involved in in the region … Iran has got to back out of many of the things they’re doing.
Isikoff ignored Flynn’s entire response and continued his line of questioning:
Isikoff: Were you paid for that event?
Flynn: You’d have to ask my—the folks that I went over there to …
Isikoff: Well, I’m asking you. You’d know if you were paid.
Flynn: Yeah, I mean, I went over there as a speaking event. It was a speaking event. What difference does that make? Does somebody go, ‘Oh, he was paid by the Russians!’?
Isikoff: Well, Donald Trump has made a lot of the fact Hillary Clinton has taken money from Wall Street–Goldman Sachs …
Flynn: Yeah. I didn’t take any money from Russia, if that’s what you’re asking.
Isikoff: Well then, who paid you?
Flynn: My speaker’s bureau. Ask them.
Following the Isikoff interview, the matter was pursued further by Washington Post reporter Dana Priest, who published a combined an-person and telephone interview with Flynn in an August 15, 2016 article:
Priest: Tell me about the RT [state-run Russian Television] relationship?
Flynn: I was asked by my speaker’s bureau, LAI [Leading Authorities, Inc.]. I do public speaking. It was in Russia. It was a paid speaking opportunity. I get paid so much, the speaker’s bureau got paid so much, based on our contract.
The gig was to do an interview with [RT correspondent] Sophie Shevardnadze. It was an interview in front of the forum, probably 200 people in the audience. My purpose there was I was asked to talk about radical Islam in the Middle East. They asked me to talk about what was going on in the situation unfolding in the Middle East.
Priest: Have you appeared on RT regularly?
Flynn: I appear on Al Jazeera, Sky News Arabia, RT. I don’t get paid a dime. I have no media contracts. … on CNN, Fox …
Priest: Why would you go on RT, they’re state-run?
Flynn: Well, what’s CNN?
The Isikoff interview took place on July 18, 2016. Unknown at the time, the matter had also captured the attention of another player in the Spygate saga, dossier author Christopher Steele, who had begun publishing a series of memos beginning on June 20, 2016.
Contained within an Aug. 10, 2016, memo was this bit of information:
“Kremlin engaging with several high profile US players, including STEIN, PAGE and (former DIA Director Michael Flynn) and funding their recent visits to Moscow.
Speaking separately, also in early August 2016, a Kremlin official involved in US relations commented on aspects of the Russian operation to date …
This had involved the Kremlin supporting various US political figures, including funding indirectly their recent visits to Moscow. S/he named a delegation from Lyndon LAROUCHE; presidential candidate JILL STEIN of the Green Party; TRUMP foreign policy advisor Carter PAGE; and former DIA Director Michael Flynn.”
In addition to the obvious questions raised by the timing of Flynn’s name appearing in Steele’s Aug. 10 memo, is the manner in which Flynn is denoted.
All other names are capitalized, in the manner of intelligence briefings. Flynn’s name isn’t capitalized and in one case, appears within parentheses. It’s almost as if his name was suddenly added at the last minute—and by someone other than Steele.
Steele met with Yahoo News’ Isikoff in Sept. 2016 and gave him information from the dossier. The resulting Sept. 23, 2016, article from Isikoff was then cited by the FBI as validating Steele’s claims and was featured in both the original FISA application and the three subsequent renewals on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Steele was fired by the FBI in late October or early November over his contacts with journalists, in violation of FBI protocol.
Steele wasn’t the only person Isikoff was working with.
On April 26, 2016, Isikoff published a story on Yahoo News about Paul Manafort’s business dealings with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. It was later learned from a DNC email leaked by Wikileaks that Isikoff had been working with Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-American operative who was doing consulting work for the Democratic National Committee.
Chalupa met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, Manafort, and Russia.
News Analysis
Gen. Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, was interviewed on Jan. 24, 2017, by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka about two December 2016 conversations that Flynn had with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Details of the phone conversation had leaked to the media. Flynn ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI regarding his conversations with Kislyak. It remains unknown to this day who leaked Flynn’s classified call—a far more serious felony violation .
The Washington Post reported in January 2017 that the FBI had found no evidence of wrongdoing in Flynn’s actual call with the Russian ambassador. The call, and the matters discussed in it, broke no laws. Why Flynn would lie to the FBI agents about a perfectly legal call isn’t immediately clear.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted in a May 15, 2018, letter that “Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn, ‘saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying.’ Our own Committee staff notes indicate that Mr. Comey said the ‘agents saw no change in his demeanor or tone that would say he was being untruthful.’”
Flynn has been portrayed in the media as being suspiciously close to Russia; frequently cited as evidence is a dinner in Moscow that occurred in late 2015.
On Dec. 10, 2015, Flynn attended a dinner in Moscow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Russian television network RT.
Flynn, who was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the culminating dinner, was also interviewed on national security matters by an RT correspondent. Flynn’s speaker’s bureau, Leading Authorities Inc., was paid $45,000 for the event and Flynn received $33,000 of the total amount.
Seated at the same table with Flynn was Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate in the 2016 election. By all accounts, including Stein’s, Flynn and Putin didn’t engage in any real conversation .
At the time, Flynn’s trip didn’t garner significant attention. But it would later be used by media and the Clinton campaign to push the Russian collusion narrative.
It was reported that Flynn joined the Trump campaign in late February 2016 as an informal adviser on foreign policy matters—approximately two months after his dinner in Moscow—although his actual start date isn’t entirely clear.
Flynn’s trip to Russia was first brought to larger attention on July 18, 2016, during a live interview at the Republican National Convention with Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff:
Isikoff: You flew over to Moscow to participate in the 10th anniversary—a celebration of RT—Russian television, a propaganda arm of the Russian government. And you sat next to Vladimir Putin at a celebratory dinner. Why did you attend that event?
Flynn:
Because I wanted to tell Russia to get Iran the hell out of the four proxy wars that they’re involved in in the Middle East in order for us to settle the situation down … my intent for speaking at that event—and they allowed me to do it—was to talk about Russia’s influence over Iran and to essentially tell Russia that they have got to get Iran out of the situations they are involved in in the region … Iran has got to back out of many of the things they’re doing.
Isikoff ignored Flynn’s entire response and continued his line of questioning:
Isikoff: Were you paid for that event?
Flynn: You’d have to ask my—the folks that I went over there to …
Isikoff: Well, I’m asking you. You’d know if you were paid.
Flynn: Yeah, I mean, I went over there as a speaking event. It was a speaking event. What difference does that make? Does somebody go, ‘Oh, he was paid by the Russians!’?
Isikoff: Well, Donald Trump has made a lot of the fact Hillary Clinton has taken money from Wall Street–Goldman Sachs …
Flynn: Yeah. I didn’t take any money from Russia, if that’s what you’re asking.
Isikoff: Well then, who paid you?
Flynn: My speaker’s bureau. Ask them.
Following the Isikoff interview, the matter was pursued further by Washington Post reporter Dana Priest, who published a combined an-person and telephone interview with Flynn in an August 15, 2016 article:
Priest: Tell me about the RT [state-run Russian Television] relationship?
Flynn: I was asked by my speaker’s bureau, LAI [Leading Authorities, Inc.]. I do public speaking. It was in Russia. It was a paid speaking opportunity. I get paid so much, the speaker’s bureau got paid so much, based on our contract.
The gig was to do an interview with [RT correspondent] Sophie Shevardnadze. It was an interview in front of the forum, probably 200 people in the audience. My purpose there was I was asked to talk about radical Islam in the Middle East. They asked me to talk about what was going on in the situation unfolding in the Middle East.
Priest: Have you appeared on RT regularly?
Flynn: I appear on Al Jazeera, Sky News Arabia, RT. I don’t get paid a dime. I have no media contracts. … on CNN, Fox …
Priest: Why would you go on RT, they’re state-run?
Flynn: Well, what’s CNN?
The Isikoff interview took place on July 18, 2016. Unknown at the time, the matter had also captured the attention of another player in the Spygate saga, dossier author Christopher Steele, who had begun publishing a series of memos beginning on June 20, 2016.
Contained within an Aug. 10, 2016, memo was this bit of information:
“Kremlin engaging with several high profile US players, including STEIN, PAGE and (former DIA Director Michael Flynn) and funding their recent visits to Moscow.
Speaking separately, also in early August 2016, a Kremlin official involved in US relations commented on aspects of the Russian operation to date …
This had involved the Kremlin supporting various US political figures, including funding indirectly their recent visits to Moscow. S/he named a delegation from Lyndon LAROUCHE; presidential candidate JILL STEIN of the Green Party; TRUMP foreign policy advisor Carter PAGE; and former DIA Director Michael Flynn.”
In addition to the obvious questions raised by the timing of Flynn’s name appearing in Steele’s Aug. 10 memo, is the manner in which Flynn is denoted.
All other names are capitalized, in the manner of intelligence briefings. Flynn’s name isn’t capitalized and in one case, appears within parentheses. It’s almost as if his name was suddenly added at the last minute—and by someone other than Steele.
Steele met with Yahoo News’ Isikoff in Sept. 2016 and gave him information from the dossier. The resulting Sept. 23, 2016, article from Isikoff was then cited by the FBI as validating Steele’s claims and was featured in both the original FISA application and the three subsequent renewals on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Steele was fired by the FBI in late October or early November over his contacts with journalists, in violation of FBI protocol.
Steele wasn’t the only person Isikoff was working with.
On April 26, 2016, Isikoff published a story on Yahoo News about Paul Manafort’s business dealings with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. It was later learned from a DNC email leaked by Wikileaks that Isikoff had been working with Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-American operative who was doing consulting work for the Democratic National Committee.
Chalupa met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, Manafort, and Russia.
