Newly released notes written by former FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, which were described by General Michael Flynn’s attorneys as “explosive” and “exculpatory,” have been made public by Flynn’s attorneys in a filing in the U.S. District Court case against Flynn, dated June 24th. The Strzok note was only produced on June 23rd to Flynn’s attorneys from the ongoing review of the FBI and DOJ case file on Flynn being conducted by U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen in Missouri on orders of Attorney General William Barr. Previously undisclosed exculpatory evidence from that review caused the Justice Department to move to dismiss the charges against Flynn.
According to the filing by Flynn’s attorneys, the Strzok notes appear to be from a meeting on January 4, 2017, in the oval office involving President Obama, James Comey, Sally Yates, Joe Biden, and apparently Susan Rice. President Obama, according to the filing, directed that the “right people” investigate General Flynn. FBI Director Comey states that Flynn’s calls with Russian Ambassador Kislyak appear to be “legit.” Nonetheless, the classified transcripts of these calls were subsequently leaked to the Washington Post in a systematic effort to set Flynn up for prosecution and firing based on claims that they constituted improper dealings with Russia under the Logan Act.
In the Strzok note, it is Vice-President Biden who appears to raise the idea of the “Logan Act,” the preposterous two centuries old and never enforced law which was used as the pretext to go after Flynn. Obama asks Comey whether there is anything he shouldn’t be telling the Trump transition, and Comey replies: the Flynn/Kislyak calls.
Strzok’s scribbled notes do not identify everyone involved in the meeting. He identifies President Obama as “P,” Biden as VP and Comey as D. The notes closely track, however, to the January 5, 2017 meeting described by former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice in a memo she wrote to herself on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2016. The Rice memo says that Comey, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, Vice-President Biden, President Obama, and Rice were present at the meeting which featured a briefing from the Intelligence Community leadership on Russian hacking. Strzok was the lead agent in the FBI’s Russiagate investigation at that point.
The Rice Memo has been derided by all who have seen it as a false exculpatory memo attempting to coverup illegal actions. In it, Rice has Obama stating twice that everything involved must be done “by the book” and Comey affirming that he is proceeding “by the book.” [bmb]
