Newly declassified handwritten notes from Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka contain materially different wording from the FBI’s later FD-302 summary of Michael Flynn’s January 2017 interview, including passages concerning Russian sanctions and the number of telephone calls Flynn recalled making.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Newly declassified handwritten notes from the FBI’s January 2017 interview of former national security adviser Michael Flynn reveal notable differences from the official report later used in the criminal case that led Flynn to plead guilty to making false statements to federal agents.
The records from former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka were released Wednesday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, according to a Just the News report. They provide contemporaneous shorthand accounts of the Jan. 24, 2017, interview that can now be compared with the FBI’s typed FD-302 summary finalized weeks later.
The release comes as federal prosecutors intensify a grand jury investigation examining allegations of misconduct surrounding the FBI and intelligence community’s investigations into Russia and President Donald Trump during and after the 2016 election. The existence of that investigation does not establish that a criminal conspiracy occurred.
One of the clearest differences in the newly available Flynn records concerns his conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the Obama administration imposed sanctions, expelled 35 Russian officials and closed two Russian compounds on Dec. 29, 2016. The administration announced those measures in response to Russian cyber operations and interference in the 2016 election. The expulsions were part of a broader package of measures announced that day.
Flynn was ultimately accused of falsely telling the FBI that he had not asked Kislyak to refrain from escalating Russia’s response to the U.S. sanctions. He pleaded guilty Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of making false statements under 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
The FD-302 states that agents asked Flynn whether he remembered a conversation in which he “might have encouraged KISLYAK not to escalate the situation, to keep the Russian response reciprocal, or not to engage in a ‘tit-for-tat.’”
According to the typed report, Flynn responded: “Not really. I don’t remember. It wasn’t, ‘Don’t do anything.’”
Pientka’s handwritten notes preserve the exchange differently. His notes state: “Not really. I don’t remember. Hey don’t do anything.”
They also record Flynn saying there was no “long drawn out” conversation “about don’t do anything.”
The difference is potentially significant because the FD-302 presents Flynn as saying the conversation was not one in which he told Kislyak “Don’t do anything,” while Pientka’s contemporaneous shorthand contains the words “Hey don’t do anything” without the same negating language.
The notes alone do not establish why the wording differs. FBI interview notes are shorthand rather than verbatim transcripts, and FD-302 reports can incorporate agents’ recollections in addition to their notes. But the contrast adds new detail to a long-running dispute over how Flynn’s interview was memorialized.
A second discrepancy involves how many calls Flynn recalled making on the day of the sanctions discussions.
The FD-302 says: “FLYNN remembered making four to five calls that day about this issue, but that the Dominican Republic was a difficult place to make a call as he kept having connectivity issues.”
Strzok’s handwritten notes, however, appear to record Flynn saying: “If so, don’t remember. If so, lousy place to make phone calls.” Pientka’s notes similarly indicate that Flynn did not remember making four or five calls.
The newly released materials include the declassified FD-302, Pientka’s handwritten interview notes and Strzok’s handwritten notes.
Questions about how the FD-302 was prepared surfaced years before the latest declassification. Text messages made public during Flynn’s court proceedings showed Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page discussing edits to the interview summary. Strzok told Page he was “trying not to completely re-write” the document, while Page, who was not present for the interview, also offered edits.
Flynn initially pleaded guilty but later sought to withdraw his plea after retaining attorney Sidney Powell, who argued that the FD-302 had been improperly altered and that prosecutors had failed to disclose evidence favorable to Flynn.
The circumstances preceding the interview also became a major part of Flynn’s challenge to the prosecution.
Just weeks earlier, FBI personnel had prepared to close the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation into Flynn after finding “no derogatory” information supporting the theory that he was acting on behalf of Russia, according to records subsequently released in the case. Strzok intervened before the investigation was closed, and the FBI instead proceeded toward interviewing Flynn.
Handwritten notes from then-FBI Counterintelligence Division official William Priestap, released during Flynn’s court proceedings, recorded concerns about the bureau’s approach.
Priestap wrote that officials needed to determine whether their objective was “to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” and questioned whether the FBI was “playing games.”
Other documents showed FBI officials discussing how to handle the warning that lying to federal agents is a crime. Page wrote that “It would be an easy way to just casually slip that in”.
Records released later also indicated that the interviewing agents did not initially view Flynn’s demeanor as overtly deceptive. A Mueller team memorandum stated: “Strzok provided his view that Flynn appeared truthful during the interview.”
The legal theories surrounding Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak were also debated internally. Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe later testified that a potential Logan Act prosecution had been described to him as a “long shot,” while former Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord said such a case “seemed like a stretch.” The Logan Act, enacted in 1799, restricts certain unauthorized negotiations by private citizens with foreign governments.
Justice Department officials also raised concerns about the FBI’s handling of the Flynn interview, including the decision to approach the newly installed national security adviser without going through the White House counsel’s office.
Flynn’s attorneys later alleged that evidence relevant to those issues was withheld from his defense for years, despite obligations to disclose material evidence favorable to a defendant.
The Justice Department moved in 2020 to dismiss Flynn’s criminal case, arguing that the interview lacked an adequate investigative basis and that his statements were not material to a legitimate counterintelligence investigation. Before the resulting court dispute was resolved, Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020.
Flynn later filed a civil lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution, saying he had been “falsely branded as a traitor,” lost substantial business opportunities and accumulated major legal expenses. A federal judge dismissed his original case in 2024, and Flynn later renewed his claims.
In March 2026, the Justice Department under Attorney General Pam Bondi agreed to settle Flynn’s lawsuit for approximately $1.2 million. The department characterized the settlement as an effort to address what it viewed as an injustice arising from the Russia investigation, while the agreement did not itself constitute a judicial finding that the original prosecution was unlawful.
The newly declassified notes do not by themselves resolve the broader disputes surrounding Flynn’s prosecution. They do, however, provide the public with the agents’ contemporaneous handwritten accounts for direct comparison with the FD-302 — including wording on two subjects central to the case that differs from the bureau’s later official summary.
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