Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy

by Seth Abramson

Flynn and Barrack are the two ringleaders of the effort. Because the plan the two top Trump advisers are championing requires that Trump drop sanctions on Russia, it is little surprise when, at the direction of a “senior transition official”—who communicates with Flynn through his deputy K. T. McFarland—the retired general and future Trump national security advisor tells Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak on December 29, 2016, that if Russia will hold off on retaliating for the sanctions just imposed upon it by President Obama (sanctions imposed for the Kremlin’s pro-Trump interference during the 2016 election), Trump will review the entire U.S.-Russia sanctions regime post-inauguration.262 Kislyak eventually agrees, informing Flynn in a subsequent phone call that the Kremlin will stand down and not retaliate for the new sanctions.263 The next day, December 30, Trump tweets to the nation, “Great move on delay (by V. Putin)—I always knew he was very smart!”264 Trump makes no mention of any negotiations between his transition team and the Kremlin urging such a “delay,” though the Mueller Report will intimate that Trump was told, just after the new sanctions were announced, that his top national security advisor, Flynn, would imminently be speaking with the Russian ambassador.