Emails dispute picture of Flynn as a rogue actor
WASHINGTON — When President Donald Trump fired his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in February, White House officials portrayed Flynn as a renegade who had acted independently in his discussions with a Russian official during the presidential transition and then lied to his colleagues about the interactions.
But emails among top transition officials, provided or described to The New York Times, suggest Flynn was far from a rogue actor. In fact, the emails, coupled with interviews and court documents filed Friday, showed Flynn was in contact with other senior members of the transition team before and after he spoke with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
While Trump has disparaged as a Democratic “hoax” claims he or his aides had unusual interactions with Russian officials, records suggest the Trump team was focused on improving relations with Moscow and was willing to intervene to pursue that goal despite a request from the Obama administration that it not sow confusion about official U.S. policy.
On Dec. 29, a transition adviser to Trump, K.T. McFarland, wrote in an email to a colleague that sanctions announced hours before by the Obama administration in retaliation for Russian election meddling were aimed at discrediting Trump’s victory. The sanctions could also make it much harder for Trump to ease tensions with Russia, “which has just thrown the USA election to him,” she wrote in the emails obtained by The Times.
It is not clear whether McFarland was saying she believed the election had in fact been thrown. A White House lawyer said Friday that she meant only that the Democrats were portraying it that way.
But it is evident from the emails — which were obtained from someone who had access to transition team communications — that after learning President Barack Obama would expel 35 Russian diplomats, the Trump team quickly strategized about how to reassure Russia. The Trump advisers feared a cycle of retaliation between the United States and Russia would keep the spotlight on Moscow’s election meddling, tarnishing Trump’s victory and potentially hobbling his presidency from the start.
As part of the outreach, McFarland wrote, Flynn would be speaking with the Russian ambassador, Kislyak, hours after Obama’s sanctions were announced.
“Key will be Russia’s response over the next few days,” McFarland wrote in an email to another transition official, Thomas P. Bossert, now the president’s homeland security adviser.
In an interview, Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer handling the Russia inquiry, said there was nothing illegal or unethical about the transition team’s actions. “It would have been political malpractice not to discuss sanctions,” he said, adding that “the presidential transition guide specifically encourages contact with and outreach to foreign dignitaries.”
The only problem, Cobb said, was that Flynn had lied to White House officials and to FBI agents about what he had told the Russian ambassador. Flynn’s misstatements led to his firing in February and his guilty plea Friday to charges of lying to federal agents.
With Flynn’s plea and agreement to cooperate with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian election interference, the inquiry edges closer to Trump. The president tried to persuade FBI Director James Comey to drop the bureau’s criminal investigation of Flynn and fired Comey after he failed to comply.
Trump and his aides have suggested his concern about Flynn’s potential legal jeopardy was motivated mainly by the president’s admiration for his former national security adviser’s military service and character.
But the new details about Flynn’s Russia contacts underscore the possibility the president may have been worried not just about Flynn but also about whether any investigation might reach the White House and perhaps the Oval Office. That question will be at the center of any consideration by Mueller of whether Trump’s actions constituted obstruction of justice.
The Trump transition team ignored a pointed request from the Obama administration to avoid sending conflicting signals to foreign officials before the inauguration and to include State Department personnel when contacting them. Besides the Russian ambassador, Flynn, at the request of the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, contacted several other foreign officials to urge them to delay or block a U.N. resolution condemning Israel over its building of settlements.
Cobb said the Trump team had never agreed to avoid such interactions. But one former White House official has disputed that, telling Mueller’s investigators Trump transition officials had agreed to honor the Obama administration’s request.
Bossert forwarded McFarland’s Dec. 29 email exchange about the sanctions to six other Trump advisers, including Flynn; Reince Priebus, who had been named as chief of staff; Stephen Bannon, the senior strategist; and Sean Spicer, who would become the press secretary.
Obama, she wrote, was trying to “box Trump in diplomatically with Russia,” which could limit his options with other countries, including Iran and Syria. “Russia is key that unlocks door,” she wrote.
She also wrote the sanctions over Russian election meddling were intended to “lure Trump in trap of saying something” in defense of Russia, and were aimed at “discrediting Trump’s victory by saying it was due to Russian interference.”
Flynn, who was fired by Obama as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was the point person for the transition team on policy toward Russia and other countries. After Trump named him his national security adviser in November 2016, Flynn began briefing him — some have said daily — on foreign policy.
McFarland, who served until May as deputy national security adviser and is awaiting confirmation as ambassador to Singapore, was sometimes referred to by other transition officials as “Flynn’s brain.” She could not be reached for comment.