Mueller Trumpets Flynn's Help, Says Don't Lock Him Up
Special counsel prosecutors said the former Trump national security adviser has provided “substantial assistance."
December 04, 2018 at 08:52 PM
3 minute read
Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has provided “substantial assistance” to the U.S., special counsel prosecutors told a Washington, D.C., federal judge Tuesday in a memo that recommended a nonprison sentence.
Flynn has assisted in “several ongoing investigations,” the prosecutors wrote Tuesday in a heavily-redacted document. They noted his aid in a criminal investigation—although details were hidden behind redactions—as well as special counsel Robert Mueller III's probe into possible coordination between President Donald Trump's campaign and the Kremlin in the 2016 U.S. election. In total, Flynn has participated in 19 interviews with lawyers at the special counsel's office or the Justice Department, the U.S. said.
Prosecutors noted the “usefulness” of Flynn's assistance, writing his “early cooperation was particularly valuable, because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight regarding events and issues under investigation by” Mueller.
“Given the defendant's substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration—is appropriate and warranted,” the prosecutors wrote Tuesday.
The memo is the first look into the extent of Flynn's cooperation with the special counsel's office after striking a plea agreement in December 2017. Flynn, who is represented by Covington & Burling partner Robert Kelner, pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contact with ex-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition.
Flynn's attorney is expected to file his response to the government's memo next week, before the retired Army lieutenant general's Dec. 18 sentencing before U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C. His conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but he likely only faces up to six months, according to his plea deal.
Tuesday's memo comes amid a swirl of recent activity in the special counsel probe. Mueller's prosecutors last week saw the president's former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, admit in federal court that he lied to Congress about the timeline of the Trump Organization's pursuit of a Trump Tower development in Moscow.
On Friday, prosecutors are expected to reveal in a court filing new details about former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's alleged breach of his plea agreement by allegedly lying to federal authorities while cooperating with Mueller's investigation.
Flynn is the first former Trump administration official to be charged in Mueller's investigation. However, he will be the fourth individual overall to be sentenced in a special counsel case.
Most recently, ex-Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos received a 14-day prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators, also while they were probing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Papadopoulos is currently serving out his time in a Wisconsin prison.
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