The FBI had closed its investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn nearly three weeks before his controversial January 2017 interview with agents, but top bureau official Peter Strzok ordered it reopened, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.
The documents also suggest that Mr. Strzok edited the interview notes of his and another agent’s interview with Flynn on January 24, 2017.
In a memo dated January 4, 2017, the bureau closed the Flynn investigation, dubbed Crossfire Razor. The memo cites “the absence of any derogatory information or lead information” as the reason for ending the probe.
“The FBI is closing the investigation. If new information is identified or reported to the FBI regarding the activities of Crossfire Razor, the FBI will consider reopening the investigation if warranted,” the memo says.
Despite failing to uncover any wrongdoing by Flynn, Mr. Strzok, the case’s supervising agent, ordered it to be reopened on the same day the FBI sought to end the case, the documents revealed.
“Hey if you haven’t closed RAZOR, don’t do so yet,” Mr. Strzok wrote in a text message to the investigating agent. “Pls keep it open for now.”
Mr. Strzok then texted FBI lawyer Lisa Page to tell her the case was still active. The two FBI officials, who were having an extramarital affair, made national headlines in 2018 when a series of texts disparaging President Trump were made public.
Both Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page have since left the bureau.
It is not clear why Mr. Strzok pushed to keep the case open, especially since the FBI memo unsealed Thursday makes it clear investigators had not turned up any dirt on Flynn.
The memo said the investigation’s goal was to uncover whether Flynn “was directed and controlled by and/or coordinated activities with the Russian Federation in a manner which is a threat to the national security and/or possibly a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”
But the memo said the probe came up empty with agents failing to uncover any derogatory information about Flynn.
The January 2017 memo also disclosed that the FBI asked another federal agency, likely the Central Intelligence Agency, to conduct a similar search of its records for wrongdoing by Flynn.
“No derogatory information was reported back to the FBI,” the memo said.
The FBI also used at least one confidential human source to monitor Flynn during the investigation, the memo revealed. But leads offered by the informant also failed to turn up evidence of a crime, the memo said.
At the same time, the FBI also began surveilling an unidentified Russian suspect to determine whether there was a connection between him and Flynn.
“No contact between the two individuals was observed by the surveillance team, the memo revealed.
Despite the attempt to close the case in early January, agents interviewed Flynn three weeks later.
In a text message to Ms. Page, Mr. Strzok confirmed that he personally edited the official account of Flynn’s interview.
“Lisa, you didn’t see it before my edits that went into what I sent to you,” he texted his former lover in February 2017.
“I was trying to completely re-write the thing so as to save [redacted] voice and 2) get it out to you for general review and comment in anticipation of needing it soon,” he wrote.
He then followed up by saying he was “trying not to completely re-write” the notes, adding “I did the edits better than I’m IMing.”
The documents unsealed Thursday are the latest bombshells revealed this week that have shed new light on the Flynn case.
On Wednesday, a trove of documents made public disclosed that the FBI discussed whether the goal of interviewing Flynn was to get him to so he could be prosecuted or fired.
Both revelations will boost Flynn’s bid to withdraw his guilty plea.
He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a former Russian ambassador about sanctions on the country, but in January he told a federal judge he “was innocent of this crime.”
Flynn filed to withdraw his guilty plea after the Justice Department requested a sentence of up to six months in prison, although the department later relented admitting probation would be appropriate.
The newly unearthed documents raise questions about whether the Justice Department had turned over all of its exculpatory evidence to Flynn before he pleaded guilty.
Last week, the Justice Department said it turned over several documents to the legal team that had been discovered in a review ordered by Attorney General William P. Barr. The documents made public Wednesday and Thursday were unearthed during the review.
Mr. Barr in February appointed Jeffrey Jensen, the U.S. Attorney in St. Louis, to examine the Flynn case. The documents unsealed Wednesday are evidence that that probe has produced results for Flynn’s legal team.
