Washington Post: Ex-Trump official walked back statement to Mueller probe about Flynn's talks with Russian diplomat

KT McFarland, who served as Flynn's deputy on the National Security Council, changed what she initially told the FBI and eventually said that Flynn may have made a general reference to sanctions when they spoke in late December 2016, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

Shortly after Flynn's guilty plea in December 2017, McFarland was questioned by the FBI about her conversations with Flynn following his phone calls with then-Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak in the months before President Donald Trump took office, according to the newspaper.

She told investigators that Flynn might have been referencing sanctions when he made a general statement to her that things were going to be okay, the Post reported.

McFarland had previously denied she was aware of conversations between Flynn and Kislyak and that the two discussed sanctions.

McFarland and her lawyer were able to sway the FBI that it was not her intent to mislead the agency, sources told the Post.

Instead, McFarland said her original statement was from memory and without documents that could have refreshed her memory about her discussions with Flynn that centered on the Kislyak talks, according to the Post.

The Post noted, however, that McFarland phoned the newspaper on January 13, 2017, insisted in an on-the-record conversation that Flynn and Kislyak had never discussed sanctions, and stressed that her memory of this was clear.

McFarland did not respond to the newspaper's multiple requests for comment.

In December 2016, after the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia to punish it for interfering in the election, McFarland emailed other Trump transition officials to plan their response, according to The New York Times. She reportedly said Flynn would be talking to the Russian diplomat and encouraged a de-escalation of the situation.

Flynn soon spoke to Kislyak and urged him not to retaliate, according to court filings. Flynn lied to the FBI about their talks and later pleaded guilty to making false statements. As part of his deal with prosecutors, Flynn agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Court documents charging Flynn state that he spoke to a senior transition team official about what to discuss with Kislyak after the Obama administration's new Russia sanctions on December 29.

McFarland was not named in the court filings, but CNN confirmed she is the transition official who spoke to Flynn.

But she told senators in July 2017 that she didn't recall talking to Flynn about his communications with Kislyak -- which Democrats accused of being misleading or possibly even perjury.

McFarland was questioned on the matter during her confirmation process to be US ambassador to Singapore, but her nomination was withdrawn in February.