Judge Declines to Press Prosecutors to Release Michael Flynn Transcripts
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., declined Tuesday to press for the public release of transcripts of discussions President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn had with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the presidential transition.
June 04, 2019 at 07:41 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., declined Tuesday to press for the public release of transcripts of discussions President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn had with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the presidential transition.
Judge Emmet Sullivan last month ordered the Justice Department to turn over transcripts of Flynn's conversations with Russian officials, along with the transcript of a voicemail recording one of Trump's personal attorneys left with a defense lawyer for Flynn. But at Friday's deadline, federal prosecutors provided only the transcript of the voicemail, flouting the portion of Sullivan's order related to Flynn's talks during the transition with Sergey I. Kislyak, who at the time was Russia's ambassador to the United States.
Prosecutors said they did not need to file transcripts of those discussions because they ultimately were not vital to the case against Flynn, who pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Kislyak.
“The government further represents that it is not relying on any other recordings, of any person, for purposes of establishing the defendant's guilt or determining his sentence, nor are there any other recordings that are part of the sentencing record,” prosecutors wrote.
Sullivan, in a two-sentence order Tuesday, said he'd decided not to require the public release of transcripts after considering prosecutors' response.
In their filing Friday, prosecutors provided the transcript of a voicemail a personal attorney for Trump left with Flynn's defense lawyer, Covington & Burling partner Robert Kelner, in November 2017 after Flynn withdrew from a joint defense agreement with the president.
Much of the transcript had previously been disclosed in the 448-page report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller III's team, summarizing his office's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The transcript provided Friday confirmed that John Dowd was the Trump attorney who'd left the voicemail with Kelner.
Dowd left Trump's defense team in March 2018.
In the voice message, Dowd spoke in halting tones of Trump's “feelings toward Flynn.”
According to the Mueller report, Kelner returned the call the following day. “Flynn's attorneys reiterated that they were no longer in a position to share information under any sort of privilege,” the Mueller's report states. “According to Flynn's attorneys, the president's personal counsel was indignant and vocal in his disagreement.”
Mueller's office scrutinized Dowd's voicemail as part of its investigation into whether Trump and his associates sought to obstruct the investigation, which also delved into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The special counsel found no evidence of coordination between the campaign and Russia but did not clear Trump of obstruction.
“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said last week, in his first public remarks on the two-year probe.
|This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'The Most Peculiar Federal Court in the Country' Comes to Berkeley Law
The New Federal Sentencing Factor in Downstate New York? Prison Conditions
'Vision': Judge David Tatel on the Value of Oral Argument and Reading Drafts Aloud
Snell & Wilmer's Andrew Young and the Case of the FBI's Secret Encrypted Phone Company
Trending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: Playing the Talent Game to Win
- 2GlaxoSmithKline Settles Most Zantac Lawsuits for $2.2B
- 3BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 4Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 5Inside Track: Late-Career In-House Leaders Offer Words to Live by
Who Got The Work
Eleanor M. Lackman of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp has entered an appearance for Canon, the Japanese camera maker, and the Brooklyn Nets in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The case, filed Sept. 16 in California Central District Court by T-Rex Law on behalf of technology company Phinge Corporation, pursues claims against the defendants for their ongoing use of the 'Netaverse' mark. The suit contends that the defendants' use of the mark in connection with a virtual reality platform will likely create consumer confusion. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall, is 2:24-cv-07917, Phinge Corporation v. Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, LLC et al.
Who Got The Work
Fox Rothschild partner Glenn S. Grindlinger has entered an appearance for Garage Management Company in a pending lawsuit over alleged wage-and-hour violations. The case was filed Aug. 31 in New York Southern District Court by the Abdul Hassan Law Group on behalf of a manual worker who contends that he was not properly compensated for overtime hours worked. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, is 1:24-cv-06610, Bailey v. Garage Management Company LLC.
Who Got The Work
Veronica M. Keithley of Stoel Rives has entered an appearance for Husky Terminal and Stevedoring LLC in a pending environmental lawsuit. The suit, filed Aug. 12 in Washington Western District Court by Kampmeier & Knutsen on behalf of Communities for a Healthy Bay, seeks to declare that the defendant has violated the Clean Water Act by releasing stormwater discharges on Puget Sound and Commencement Bay. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle, is 3:24-cv-05662, Communities for a Healthy Bay v. Husky Terminal and Stevedoring LLC.
Who Got The Work
Caroline Pignatelli of Cooley has entered an appearance for law firm Cooley, partner Matt Hallinan, retired partner Michael Tu and a pair of Cooley associates in a pending fraud lawsuit related to the firm's representation of startup company Carbon IQ and founder Benjamin Cantey. The case, filed Sept. 26 in New Jersey District Court by the DalCortivo Law Offices on behalf of Gould Ventures and member Jason Gould, contends that the defendants deliberately or recklessly concealed critical information from the plaintiffs regarding fraud allegations against Cantey. Gould claims that he would not have accepted a position on Carbon IQ's board of directors or made a 2022 investment in the company if the fraud allegations had been disclosed. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch, is 3:24-cv-09485, Gould Ventures, LLC et al v. Cooley, LLP et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom have stepped in to represent PDD Holdings, the operator of online marketplaces Pinduoduo and Temu, in a pending securities class action. The case, filed Sept. 30 in New York Eastern District Court by Labaton Keller Sucharow and VanOverbeke, Michaud & Timmony, contends that the defendants concealed information that rendered the growth of PDD unsustainable and posed substantial risks to PDD’s business, including merchant policies that made it unprofitable for vendors to do business on PDD platforms; malware issues on PDD applications; and PDD’s failure to implement effective compliance systems. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen, is 1:24-cv-06881, Macomb County Retiree Health Care Fund v. Pdd Holdings Inc. et al.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250