Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team revealed that Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, assisted Mueller’s investigation of efforts by the president and his allies to thwart Mueller’s probe. | Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images Legal Prosecutors: Person 'connected to' Congress tried to influence Flynn's cooperation with Mueller

An unidentified person “connected to … Congress” allegedly tried to influence former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to a filing unsealed in federal court Thursday.

In a newly unredacted filing from prosecutors related to Flynn’s sentencing — originally submitted to a federal judge in December — Mueller’s team revealed that Flynn assisted Mueller’s investigation of efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to thwart Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.


“The defendant informed the government of multiple instances, both before and after his guilty plea, where either he or his attorneys received communications from persons connected to the Administration or Congress that could’ve affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation,” according to the newly revealed portion of the filing. “The defendant even provided a voicemail recording of one such communication.”

Though Mueller’s report spelled out potential efforts by Trump allies to discourage Flynn from cooperating with Mueller, the report is silent on any of those efforts arising from Capitol Hill.

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Mueller’s report refers to a voicemail left by an attorney to Trump, shortly after Flynn withdrew from a joint defense agreement with Trump. In the voicemail, the attorney suggests that Trump still has warm feelings for Flynn.

“On November 23, 2017, Flynn's attorneys returned the call from the President's personal Counsel to acknowledge receipt of the voicemail,” according to the report. “Flynn's attorneys reiterated that they were no longer in a position to share information under any sort of privilege. According to Flynn‘s attorneys, the President‘s personal counsel was indignant and vocal in his disagreement.”

In the newly unsealed filing, prosecutors used Flynn’s cooperation on the obstruction part of Mueller’s investigation to argue for reducing his potential sentence, which is still pending before U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan.

The unsealed portion of the filing also details Flynn’s efforts to aid Mueller’s investigation of the Wikileaks email dumping operation. Mueller’s team indicated that Flynn provided “statements made in 2016 by senior campaign officials” that included discussions of the possibility of reaching out to WikiLeaks.

A Democratic congressional source said the news in the newly revealed portion of Mueller’s filing underscores the reason Democrats are demanding the special counsel’s evidence — not just his unredacted report.

“We only know what Barr has made public from Mueller’s report, and it’s likely that the DOJ is sitting on a large pile of material that Congress needs to see to do our oversight work,” the source said, referring to Attorney General William Barr. “This is exactly why it’s so important for the Congress to receive all the underlying documents and evidence.”

Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI in December 2017 about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the run-up to Trump’s inauguration. Citing his extensive cooperation, Mueller's team recommended that Flynn face little to no jail time for his offense.

Flynn has largely enjoyed the continued support of Trump allies, who have turned on other witnesses that worked closely with Mueller.