Ex-Trump adviser Michael Flynn should get jail time, prosecutors say
Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who twice pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts with a Russian ambassador, should serve time in jail for his offense, prosecutors told a Washington federal judge, dropping their previous arguments for leniency.
Flynn should receive a term of up to six months, prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in a filing Tuesday. The onetime U.S. Army general is to be sentenced on Jan. 28.
In 2018, the government recommended only probation based on his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, but changed its position as Flynn adopted a more confrontational approach.
Actions and comments by Flynn and his lawyer since "negate the benefits of much of the defendant's earlier cooperation," prosecutors said, adding that they no longer believed he deserved credit for accepting responsibility for his actions.
"Indeed, the government has reason to believe, through representations by the defendant's counsel, that the defendant has retreated from his acceptance of responsibility in this case regarding his lies to the FBI," prosecutors said.
Flynn served just three weeks as President Donald Trump's national security adviser before he was fired for lying about his contacts with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. at the time. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 and agreed to cooperate.
According to prosecutors, that cooperation broke down over the last year or so. Before Flynn's December 2018 sentencing, his original attorneys implied their client may have been tricked into pleading guilty by the agents who questioned him. Sullivan had Flynn reaffirm his guilty plea, then postponed the sentencing so Flynn would get the full benefit of his deal with prosecutors by helping in their case against his former business partner, Bijan Rafiekian.
In June, Flynn hired Dallas lawyer Sidney Powell, who is also a conservative commentator and vocal critic of the Mueller investigation. Within weeks a dispute erupted between the new defense team and prosecutors counting on Flynn's cooperation in the illegal lobbying case against Rafiekian, who is also known as Bijan Kian.
In court papers filed then, Powell said the government was pressing her client to give untruthful testimony. Prosecutors ultimately elected to not call Flynn as a witness, a factor they cited Tuesday in explaining why they now were calling for prison time.
Rafiekian was convicted by the jury in July, but the trial judge overturned the verdict in September, saying the evidence was insufficient.
Powell went on to accuse prosecutors of withholding evidence that would clear Flynn, including classified information and the original interview notes that led to the charges against him, and asked the judge to throw out Flynn's indictment. Sullivan declined.
"The prosecution wanted General Flynn to lie in the Rafiekian case. He refused to do that, and now they want to punish him," Powell said in an emailed statement. "It's an outrage."
Flynn's arguments for leniency are due on Jan. 22.
The case is U.S. v. Flynn, 17-cr-232, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).