Newly declassified handwritten notes from FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka show differences between what they wrote in their Jan. 24, 2017, interview of General Michael Flynn and the official FD-302 entered more than 20 days later. That summary was used to charge Flynn in November 2017 with one count of making false statements to the FBI.
The case centered on Flynn’s talks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. On Dec. 20, 2016, the same day Flynn had at least one call with Kislyak, the Obama administration expelled 35 Russian diplomats and authorized a response to alleged Russian cyber operations. Prosecutors later said Flynn “falsely stated and represented” that he “did not ask the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions.”
Pientka’s notes record Flynn answering: “Not really. I don’t remember. Hey don’t do anything.” The FD-302 later said Flynn answered, “Not really. I don’t remember. It wasn’t, ‘Don’t do anything.’” The notes also say there was no “long drawn out” discussion “about don’t do anything,” and that Flynn did not tell the agents he never spoke with Kislyak or never asked him to refrain from escalating. On the calls, both agents wrote that Flynn did not remember making four or five calls — “If so, don’t remember” — while the official summary said he remembered making four to five calls that day from the Dominican Republic.
Washington Field Office agents had found “no derogatory” information and planned to close the Flynn case and give him a defensive briefing. Strzok intervened to keep it open and push the interview. Then-Assistant Director William Priestap’s notes asked whether the FBI was “playing games” and trying to “get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” FBI officials discussed whether they could avoid, disguise, or “casually slip” in the required warning against lying.
The interview was sought without the normal notice to the Trump White House. Strzok later texted FBI lawyer Lisa Page that he was “trying not to completely re-write” the FD-302; Page also provided edits. The agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe he intended to lie. Justice officials called a Logan Act case a “long shot” and a “stretch.” Justice Department officials and Flynn’s lawyers say most of that evidence was kept from the courts and from Flynn’s defense for years, even after repeated orders to turn over all Brady material — evidence that could have shown innocence.
Flynn pleaded guilty, later sought to withdraw the plea, and was pardoned by President Trump in 2020. The Justice Department settled his civil suit in March 2025 for about $1.2 million.
The notes were released Wednesday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force as federal prosecutors ramp up a grand jury investigation into whether the FBI’s Russia collusion probe amounted to a criminal conspiracy to falsely impugn Trump and his supporters.
