So what's actually in all of this released material? The material Powell has released from Covington consists of two emails, both largely redacted.

The first, from Flynn's Covington attorney Robert Kelner to his co-counsel Stephen Anthony, dates to March 18, 2018 and shows Kelner writing to Anthony, "We have a lawyers' unofficial agreement that they are unlikely to charge Junior in light of the Cooperation Agreement." The second, dated March 18, 2018, is from Anthony to Kelner and two Covington colleagues. The only unredacted text in the email reads, "The only exception is the reference to Michael Jr. The government took pains not to give a promise to MTF [presumably referencing Flynn] regarding Michael Jr., so as to limit how much of a 'benefit' it would have to disclose as part of its Giglio disclosures to any defendant against whom MTF may one day testify." (Under Giglio v. United States, the government must inform defendants of information concerning immunity deals that might impeach a witness's credibility.)

Flynn's current lawyers try to cast this as evidence of prosecutorial misconduct--a gross effort to threaten Flynn with the prosecution of his son combined with an effort to cover it up. In fact, if prosecutors did use Flynn's son as leverage, this is within the range of normal prosecutorial hardball. Flynn's consulting group, with which his son was employed, engaged in practices that raised legal questions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, exposing both father and son to potential criminal liability. (And that's before we get to the reported involvement by both Flynns in a possible plot to kidnap cleric Fethullah Gulen on behalf of the Turkish government.) Prosecutors were apparently willing to forego other charges against Flynn in exchange for his cooperation and plea to the single felony. According to the Covington emails, the prosecutors apparently would not promise to forego further charges against Flynn's son, although they signaled that they were "unlikely" to move forward against him if they received satisfactory cooperation from his father.

Leaning on a potential defendant for cooperation using the criminal liability of family members as leverage is not unheard of. This does not mean the practice is beyond criticism--but the handling of Flynn's case is not some kind of aberration, let alone the sort of conscience-shocking thing that might justify a dismissal.

And to the extent any nod-and-a-wink arrangement on Flynn Jr. would raise any kind of Giglio issue, it certainly does not with respect to Flynn, who was obviously aware of the predicament his son faced and any role of his plea in alleviating it. That issue would only arise, as the Covington email reflects, if Flynn's testimony were used against someone else and any arrangement with respect to his son were not disclosed.

The first batch of documents provided by Jensen and released on April 29 contains two email chains within the FBI from Jan. 23 and 24, 2017--the day before the FBI spoke with Flynn in the interview for which he was later charged with lying, and the day of the interview, respectively--along with a page of handwritten notes, partially redacted and dated Jan. 24. The documents appear to show conversations within the bureau regarding how to handle the interview and Flynn's case.

One email chain shows an exchange between FBI lawyer Lisa Page (who was then working in the office of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe) and FBI official Peter Strzok (who was working on the Russia investigation), as well as an unidentified individual in the FBI's Office of General Counsel. This chain shows Page and the Office of General Counsel official discussing if and when it was appropriate or necessary to notify an interviewee that lying to a federal official is a criminal offense under 18 USC § 1001, the statute under which Flynn pled. Page writes asking whether "the admonition re 1001 could be given at the beginning of the interview" or whether it has "to come following a statement which agents believe to be false"; the other correspondent writes that, "if I recall correctly, you can say it at any time," and indicates that he or she will double-check.

The next email, sent early in the morning of Jan. 24, is from Strzok to a redacted email address; then-FBI General Counsel James Baker is copied on the email, along with another redacted address. Strzok's note contains a list of questions for McCabe to consider how he might want to answer in advance of a phone call with Flynn--that is, questions Flynn might ask him about the ongoing FBI investigation. From the Mueller report and other internal FBI documents released by Powell during the Flynn litigation, we know that McCabe spoke with Flynn by phone around noon on Jan. 24 and informed him that the FBI wanted to interview him about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak; Flynn agreed, and Strzok and another agent interviewed him at around 2:15pm that same day. With that in mind, the Jan. 24 email appears to show the bureau preparing McCabe for how to discuss his request for an interview with Flynn.

The last document in this tranche is a page of handwritten notes, with some redactions, dated Jan. 24; it is not clear whether the notes were written before the Flynn interview was conducted or after it. The writer seems to be sketching out thoughts--it is not clear whose--on how the bureau should navigate the politically tricky investigation, particularly regarding whether or not the FBI should allow Flynn to lie or confront him with evidence of his falsehood. The notes appear to show the writer moving toward the argument that the bureau should take the latter path. "What's urgent?" the writer asks. "Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?" The notes go on:

We regularly show subjects evidence with the goal of getting them to admit their wrongdoing

I don't see how getting someone to admit their wrongdoing is going easy on him

If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give this to DOJ and have them decide

Or, if he initially lies, then we present him [redacted] and he admits it, document for DOJ, and let them decide how to address it

If we're seen as playing games, WH [White House] will be furious

Protect our institution by not playing games

Flynn's new lawyers cite these notes, which were presumably written by then-FBI counterintelligence chief Bill Priestap, as supposed smoking gun evidence that the FBI was seeking to entrap Flynn in a lie. The trouble with that argument is that absolutely nothing forced Flynn not to tell the truth in that interview. And while FBI officials appear to have discussed the strategic purpose of the interview, there's nothing whatsoever wrong with that. To be sure, a possible criminal prosecution based on the Logan Act case was weak leverage, given that the statute has virtually no history of enforcement, but agents hold relatively weak leverage over witnesses all the time. And yes, it's wrong for the bureau to set up an interview in the absence of a viable case in order to induce a witness to lie for purposes of prosecution, but there's no evidence that is what happened--merely evidence that the possibility was on a list of possible strategic goals for the interview. And yes, the bureau will sometimes confront a witness with a lie and specifically warn the person about lying being a felony, but that is not a legal requirement.

In fact, the Flynn interview gave Flynn every opportunity to tell the truth. As the FBI's partially-redacted memo documenting Flynn's interview reflects, the questions were careful. They were specific. The agents, as Strzok later recalled in a formal FBI interview of his own, planned to try to jog Flynn's memory if he said he could not remember a detail by using the exact words they knew he had used in his conversation with Kislyak. And Flynn, as he admitted in open court--twice--did not tell the truth. That is not entrapment or a set-up, and it is very far indeed from outrageous government conduct. It's conducting an interview--and a witness at the highest levels of government lying in it.