WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Friday declined to make public transcripts of recorded conversations between Michael Flynn and Russia’s ambassador to the United States in December 2016, despite a judge’s order.
In a court filing Friday, the Justice Department wrote that it did not rely on such recordings to establish Mr. Flynn’s guilt or determine a recommendation for his sentencing.
Prosecutors also failed to release an unredacted version of portions of the Mueller report related to Mr. Flynn that the judge had ordered be made public.
Mr. Flynn, who served briefly as President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He is awaiting sentencing.
The government’s unusual response came after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington ordered earlier in May that the Justice Department make public various materials related to the case, including transcripts of any audio recordings of Mr. Flynn, such as his conversations with Russian officials.
Prosecutors provided one item that Judge Sullivan ordered be released: a transcript of a voicemail left by an attorney for Mr. Trump, much of which had already appeared in Mr. Mueller’s report.
It is unclear how the judge will react to the government’s noncompliance with other elements of his order.
Although Mr. Flynn’s interactions with Mr. Kislyak were described in Mr. Mueller’s report and in court documents, the exact words the two men used have not been revealed. U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed the existence of recordings, which are classified.
Judge Sullivan made clear he wanted the full transcript of Mr. Flynn’s calls to be shared with the public, although he did not provide his reasoning.
Prosecutors Brandon Van Grack of the Justice Department’s national security division, who was formerly on Mr. Mueller’s team, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Curtis, of Washington, provided little explanation as to why they were not turning over the transcripts.
First Published: June 1, 2019, 4:00 a.m.