Is Strzok Memo the Rosetta Stone of Obamagate?
These notes were the last bit of exculpatory evidence that the DoJ released in the Flynn case- a day before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued its order to Sullivan to dismiss the Flynn case- an order Sullivan has yet to comply with.
What is important about these notes are that they show the then FBI Director telling the President, VP, and others that Flynn's conversation with the Russian ambassador was legit. Then the group discussing how they were going to prosecute Flynn.
From what we can tell, Strzok (unlike Rice) was not writing his memo to protect anyone. He seems to have merely jotted down some notes about what various participants in the meeting said, including President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Rice, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and Strzok’s boss — FBI Director James Comey. Chances are, at this point Strzok had no idea his dirty laundry was going to be aired or that his role as a master of the universe was going to be toppled.
But to see the importance of these notes, we need to transcribe them from the cryptic handwritten notes. Words and phrases that are outright guesses are reproduced in brackets. Speakers are noted at the beginning of each line. “NSA” stands for Rice. “D” stands for Comey. “DAG” stands for Yates. “VP” stands for Biden. “P” stands for Obama. “Cuts” is said to refer to summaries of phone calls monitored under a FISA warrant to collect foreign intelligence.
NSA - D - DAG: Flynn cuts. Other [countries].
D - DAG: Lean forward on [illegible, but possibly “ambass” as in ambassador. Others have speculated on “useless” or “unless,” which don’t fit the context, or “unclass” as in “unclassified” or even a name beginning with m. We just don’t know.]
VP: “Logan Act”
P: These are unusual times
VP: I’ve been on the Intel Committee for 10 years and I never
P: Make sure you look at thing[s] + have the right people on it
P: Is there anything I shouldn’t be telling transition team?
D: Flynn —> Kislyak calls but appear legit.
[Apple][??] - Happy New Year - Yeah right
The reasons why these nine lines are so important have been adequately explored by other writers on most of the relevant topics. Most significantly from a political point of view is confirmation that Biden lied when he said he had nothing to do with the criminal prosecution of Flynn. The Logan Act is a more than 200-year-old statute that forbids ordinary Americans from negotiating with foreign governments that have a dispute with the United States. No one has ever been convicted under the law, and Flynn was not an ordinary American, but rather the incoming national security adviser; nonetheless it was a central plank in the plan to give Flynn enough rope to hang himself. The fact that quotes appear only around the words Logan Act suggest that this was a direct quote from Biden.
In addition, the order by Obama presumably to Comey to “have the right people on it” suggests that there was a political element to the investigation and that the president wanted loyalists to handle it. What other explanation is there? Who exactly are the “wrong people” in the FBI? (That’s a rhetorical question. Obviously the wrong people were Strzok, Comey and their buddies at the FBI and CIA who were wiretapping honest Americans and framing a president.)
Finally, and most importantly for Flynn and his attorneys, we have a contemporaneous account of the FBI director assuring the president that Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak were “legit.” In that case, why did Strzok reveal in an instant message on Jan. 4, 2017, the day before this historic meeting, that the FBI agent in charge should NOT close the case against Flynn even though it should have already been closed because no evidence had accrued against him? If Comey thought the general’s conversations with Kislyak were “legit,” then why did Strzok tell another FBI contact that the “7th floor [was] involved” in the decision to keep the Flynn case alive. The seventh floor being where the offices of Comey and the rest of the top FBI brass are located. Strzok was ecstatic to find out that the case had “serendipitously” not been closed, and told his girlfriend Lisa Page, “Our utter incompetence actually helps us.”