What did Robert Mueller and Michael Flynn just do?

Tonight’s sentencing memo from Michael Flynn should have been a non-event. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has already recommended that Flynn get no prison time, meaning all Flynn had to do in his own filing was to point to Mueller and say, “what he said.” Instead, Flynn is including new revelations about his interactions with the FBI. The thing is, Mueller has to be in on this.

Michael Flynn is revealing that when he was first interviewed by the FBI about his contacts with the Russian Ambassador, he lied partly because he believed he was simply having a friendly conversation, and not being interviewed. Flynn then points out that one of the agents who interviewed him was Peter Strzok, and the person who signed off on the interview was Andrew McCabe, two people who have since been fired.

On the surface, this comes off as Michael Flynn simply trying to convince the judge to be as lenient on him as possible. But keep in mind that Robert Mueller has already told the judge that Flynn should get a free pass. Under the circumstances, Flynn wouldn’t dare defy Mueller by publicly exposing details that Mueller doesn’t want out there, as Mueller could simply go back to the judge and say that Flynn was sabotaging things.

So while Michael Flynn’s reason for wanting to include these details is clear, Robert Mueller’s reason for signing off on this disclosure is less clear. There has to be something in these details, even if it’s not immediately apparent, that helps Mueller build his overall case against Donald Trump. Our guess is that it has to do with the timing of that initial FBI interview, and another shoe will drop about Trump’s knowledge of Flynn’s crimes, but the whole thing is a bit fuzzy. As per usual, Mueller is multiple steps ahead of the rest of us.