‘Not exculpatory’: Just-declassified transcripts prove Flynn lied – ‘he also betrayed America’

Newly-declassified transcripts of intercepted telephone calls between Mike Flynn and then-Russia Ambassador Sergei Kislyak prove Trump's soon-to-be National Security Advisor lied to federal investigators, and his original two guilty pleas were correct.

Friday afternoon newly-sworn in Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sent declassified transcripts of Flynn's calls to Congress. Portions of those transcripts have now been released.

They clearly show he was discussing U.S. sanctions then-President Barack Obama had imposed on Russia before Trump took office.

Remember, this was late 2016. Russia had just attacked the U.S. election to help Trump win the White House and was (and is) considered an enemy of the United States.

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who has been clamoring for these transcripts to be released, sums up what Americans should know:

According to the transcripts, Kislyak had told Flynn in December of 2016, “You might appreciate the sentiments that are raging in Moscow.”

Flynn, then an advisor to the Trump transition team, replied: “I know, I - believe me, I do appreciate it, I very much appreciate it,” as Politico reports.

“But I really don't want us to get into a situation where we're going, you know, where we do this and then you do something bigger, and then you know, everybody's got to go back and forth and everybody's got to be the tough guy here, you know?”

Flynn has moved to withdraw his guilty pleas, and Attorney General Barr has moved to drop all charges.

These transcripts make both those actions more difficult.

A sampling, and some commentary from experts: