Page:Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election.pdf/238

 in response to the sanctions at that time and would instead "plan . ., further steps to restore Russian-US relations based on the policies of the Trump Administration." Following that announcement, the President-Elect tweeted, "Great move on delay (by V. Putin)-I always knew he was very smart!"

On December 31, 2016, Kislyak called Flynn and told him that Flynn's request had been received at the highest levels and Russia had chosen not to retaliate in response to the request." Later that day, Flynn told McFarland about this follow-up conversation with Kislyak and Russia's decision not to escalate the sanctions situation based on Flynn's request. McFarland recalled that Flynn thought his phone call had made a difference. Flynn spoke with other incoming Administration officials that day, but does not recall whether they discussed the sanctions.

Flynn recalled discussing the sanctions issue with incoming Administration official Stephen Bannon the next day. Flynn said that Bannon appeared to know about Flynn's conversations with Kislyak, and he and Bannon agreed that they had "stopped the train on Russia's response" to the sanctions. On January 3, 2017, Flynn saw the President-Elect in person and thought they discussed the Russian reaction to the sanctions, but Flynn did not have a specific recollection of telling the President-Elect about the substance of his calls with Kislyak.

Members of the intelligence community were surprised by Russia's decision not to retaliate in response to the sanctions. When analyzing Russia's response, they became aware of Flynn's discussion of sanctions with Kislyak. Previously, the FBI had opened an investigation of Flynn based on his relationship with the Russian government. Flynn's contacts with Kislyak became a key component of that investigation.