Washington (CNN) In the end, the judge doesn't need to hear Michael Flynn's calls with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the Trump transition in order to sentence him.

Last month, Judge Emmet Sullivan had ordered prosecutors to make public a raft of information, primarily transcripts, related to Flynn's case. That included calls between him and Russian officials -- presumably including the calls with Kislyak that have only been summarized but factored into a core piece of the Mueller investigation.

They said, in a one-sentence response to that part of the order, that they did not have other documents to share with the court that could help at sentencing.

The response caused much ado among court-watchers, who wondered how Sullivan might react to the snub. Sullivan is known for his demands for transparency in prosecutions and, in Flynn's case, his severe reaction to Flynn's behavior in the White House.

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