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Though Flynn initially pleaded guilty to the charges, he later filed to withdraw his plea under new representation. His new lawyer, Sidney Powell, argued that the FD-302, which formed the basis for the charges against her client, had been altered by Strzok, one of the agents who interviewed Flynn, and Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who did not attend the interview.
In the pair’s text messages, which were publicly exposed in 2020, Strzok and Page discussed how Strzok had made significant edits to the FD-302. In fact, Strzok told Page he was “trying not to completely re-write” the summary because of its poor original state. Page also provided edits, the text messages show.
Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020, ending the prosecution. Flynn filed a civil suit in 2023 alleging malicious prosecution, claiming DOJ investigators, under what he called “virulently anti-Trump leadership” within the FBI, had targeted him because of his association with Trump's 2016 campaign, and that he was “falsely branded as a traitor,” lost business opportunities and incurred significant legal costs.
A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, but he filed again when Trump returned to office. In March 2025, the Justice Department under Attorney General Pam Bondi settled the suit for approximately $1.2 million, The Associated Press reported.
Strzok and Pientka’s FD-302 file records show that Flynn said that he did not remember discussing with Kislyak the expulsion of diplomats and new sanctions. According to the agents, when asked whether he asked the Russians to refrain from escalating with their own sanctions, Flynn is said to have responded, “Not really. I don’t remember. It wasn’t, ‘Don’t do anything.’”
But, the wording departs from how one of the agents first memorialized Flynn’s response in the interview more than 20 days earlier. According to Pientka's handwritten memo, Flynn was asked whether he had any recollection of such a conversation with Kislyak and he replied, “Not really. I don’t remember. Hey don’t do anything.”
The agent separately records that Flynn said there was no “long drawn out” discussion “about don’t do anything.” But, the notes show that Flynn did not tell agents that he never spoke with Kislyak and never asked him to refrain from escalating with further expulsions and the sanctions, which prosecutors later accused him of lying about.
In another instance, the agents appeared to have altered Flynn’s response to a question about the number of calls he remembered having with the Russian ambassador and others related to the diplomatic incident. In the FD-302, the agents write that “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.”
However, in both memos, the agents note that Flynn did not recall making four to five calls. “I [do not] remember making 4-5 calls,” one agent wrote, using a common symbol for “do not” or “no.” “If did lousy place to call,” he added to Flynn’s response. The other agent wrote that Flynn answered “if so, don’t remember,” to a question about the number of calls.
You can read both sets of handwritten interview notes and the FD-302, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, below:
For years, the timing and circumstances of Strzok and Pientka’s interview of the newly installed national security advisor has stirred concerns, both ethical and constitutional.
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