[The Epoch Times] Peter Strzok, former FBI head of counterintelligence operations, significantly changed an early draft of the official FBI report from its questioning of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, newly released texts messages indicate.To this day, the FBI hasn’t shown the early draft to Flynn. An eye-witness said the draft included exculpatory information, which was removed in the final version, Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, previously said.
Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of lying to FBI agents during a Jan. 24, 2017, interview.
Agents are supposed to memorialize their interviews in an FD-302 form within five days, but the earliest 302 draft Flynn was provided was dated Feb. 10, 2017.
The new text messages suggest that an earlier version of the draft existed, either produced on Feb. 10 or earlier.
"Lisa you didn’t see it before my edits that went into what I sent you," Strzok texted after 10 p.m. on Feb. 10, 2017, to Lisa Page, his mistress and then-special counsel to FBI’s then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Strzok said he was "trying to not completely rewrite" the document "so as to save [redacted] voice."
According to Powell, Strzok and Page were editing the Flynn 302 and Strzok was referring to the Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) who co-conducted the interview with him. The Epoch Times and other media have identified the agent as Joe Pientka.
The texts show "that there in fact exists an original 302 document created by SSA," Powell said in an April 30 statement.
The FBI had no comment when asked to confirm or deny whether the texts pertained to the Flynn 302.
The failure to produce the draft 302 equals a violation of the court’s "Brady" order, which requires the government to hand over evidence helpful to the defense, Powell said.
"As repugnant as this conduct is on its face, the travel of this vital document establishes continuously—and until this day—the original FBI agents, the prosecutors, and FBI management’s determination to withhold exculpatory evidence required under Brady, among other violations of Gen. Flynn’s civil rights. They withheld it not only to try to convict an innocent man, but to hide their own crimes," she said.